Stargate: Thirdspace
by andrewjameswilliams
Summary: In the 26th century a group of Tau'ri warships is sent to a newly discovered galaxy, triggering a war that could see the extinction of all life in the universe. B5/Stargate Crossover.
1. Prologue

**Stargate: Thirdspace**

**Prologue**

**March 2525**

Admiral Jacob Robyns reread the orders that had been issued to his task force in the peace and quiet of his ready room aboard the Tau'ri Federation starship _Achilles._ The orders were for a type of escort mission that didn't come about very often. Rereading the orders Jacob couldn't help but feel a twinge of the old wanderlust and desire for adventure that had first attracted him to Earth's space forces in the first place.

His task force of one dreadnought, two battleships, four battlecruisers, eight cruisers and twelve destroyers were to escort the cityship Rivendell to her destination. At anytime escorting a cityship was a prodigious assignment. Modelled directly after Atlantis itself cityships were not built very often. The time and resources required to construct a giant city that doubled as an intergalactic spacecraft was enormous not to mention it was really expensive. To be ordered to escort one somewhere was regarded as a great honour. But what really made this mission for Jacob was where Rivendell was going.

Rivendell was going to a new galaxy and not just any galaxy but a neighbouring dark matter galaxy. Until relatively recently the very existence of dark matter galaxies had been unknown. It was only through the ongoing examinations of the vast Ancient database in Atlantis that they had learned of them, learned of them and found the design for sensors capable of detecting them. They had already pinpointed a number of them, the closest being about halfway between the Milky Way and Pegasus Galaxies but at such an angle that it was almost impossible to just stumble into. Rivendell was going to that galaxy to be the base of operations in exploring the new galaxy.

Jacob jumped slightly when his desk communications panel chimed.

"Bridge to Admiral Robyns," Captain Josephine Owens said as a holographic screen showing her face appeared in front of him.

"Yes captain?" Jacob asked.

"Sir sensors report that Rivendell and her supporting supply ships are rising from the planet. They will reach the departure position in twelve minutes."

"Understood. Signal to the fleet. All ships to deploy into standard escort formation around Rivendell and her support ships as they reach departure position."

"Aye sir," Owens answered then the holographic screen vanished. Jacob smiled softly then leaned back in his chair to wait to be told that the fleet was almost ready for departure.

**

* * *

Pilots Lounge**

**That Same Time**

Flight Lieutenant John Ashford looked up from the magazine pad he was reading at the sound of voices. A smile appeared on his face when he saw that it was Nick Patterson and Catherine Sinclair two other pilots from the squadron he was part of.

"Hi," he called out to get their attention. Nick and Catherine looked over at the sound of his voice, grinned and headed over to him.

"Hi John. You heard the news," Nick said. "The news about where we are going."

"By we you mean the task force," John asked.

"Yes," Catherine replied.

"Somekind of intergalactic escort mission I believe."

"You bet it is John. We're escorting a cityship to a new galaxy," Nick said with a wide smile. "Man I would love to see the inside of one of those ships. A city that can fly through space it must be amazing to see."

"It is very nice," John answered with a knowing smile.

"How do you know," Nick asked. He was relatively new to the fighter squadrons on the _Achilles_ having only been aboard for three months. Though he was friends with John he still didn't know as much about him as he would like. Anything that told him more about John Ashford's background would be welcome.

"Because I was born and bred on Atlantis," John replied with a smile. "My father is one of the scientists working there and my mother is actually a native of the Pegasus Galaxy. She's an Athosian from the mainland of the planet where Atlantis is located."

"Really! You're from Atlantis," Nick exclaimed.

"Yep. Though I've not seen Atlantis in the physical sense for two years, ever since the _Achilles_ was assigned to patrolling the boarder with the Aschen Confederation. Pegasus is a long way to go for leave time unless you go by Stargate."

"Who knows you might get to go back when this mission ends," Catherine said.

"I would like that and to see my siblings and parents again. Subspace communications isn't the same at all."

"No it's not," Catherine agreed. "But enough about this. Anyone up for a poker game?" Nick and John exchanged a look then answered in unison.

"You're on."

**

* * *

Flag Bridge**

**Thirty Minutes Later**

"Admiral all ships have confirmed that they are ready to depart," a young communications technician reported from the flag bridge communications station.

"Very well," Jacob replied. "All ships jump into hyperspace."

"Aye sir."

Jacob leaned back in his command chair and turned his attention to the massive high resolution screen that made up the far wall of the flag bridge, there was another just like it on the main bridge. Like all vital facilities both the main and flag bridges were built deep within the _Achilles_, protected by as much armour as possible.

For a moments nothing happened, the screen continued to show normal space outside the ship. The aft sections of the two leading destroyers were just visible against the backdrop of stars. Abruptly a hyperspace window opened ahead of the fleet, the leading ships abruptly seemed to stretch forward, then vanished into hyperspace. After a second a soft shudder ran through the deck as the _Achilles_ own hyperspace drive activated and the ship accelerated and shot into hyperspace.

As space outside his flagship became the shimmering, nebulous blue tunnel effect of hyperspace Jacob smiled. They were on their way. No one knew what they would see, of what was waiting for them. But he looked forward to finding out what was in this new galaxy.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Two Weeks Later**

_The cruiser paused in its patrol route as distant subspace distortions consistent with opening hyperspace windows teased the edge of its sensor horizon. The sheer unexpectness of the arrival stunning the cruisers surprisingly small crew, there were no large group of ships in the area to there knowledge beyond the sector defence fleet and a small task group._

_Confused and curious the cruiser sent a subspace communication in the direction of the distortions. No reply was forthcoming when there should have been an instant response. The cruiser sent another signal in a slightly different direction and changing course before opening a hyperspace window. Investigation of this strange occurrence was definitely warranted._

**

* * *

Flag Bridge**

**TFS Achilles, That Same Time**

Admiral Jacob Robyns kept his eyes focused on the display screen as the _Achilles_ and the rest of the fleet including Rivendell dropped out of hyperspace. He couldn't stop the startled gasp that escaped his lips as the luminous blue hyperspace tunnel evaporated to nothing.

The space they had emerged into was unlike anything he had ever seen or heard of before. There was no sea of stars standing out starkly against the endless black ocean of space, no multicoloured ribbons of nebulae, no this place was very different. Everywhere there seemed to be nothing but dark rolling cloud. It was all pervasive, overbearing in its sheer vastness. The lights shinning from the view ports of his ships and the virtual sea of light from the cityship illuminated the dark rolling cloud around them, making parts of it glow with different shades of red, blue or purple light, though the bulk of the space around them remained a black or dark grey mass. Faintly in the distance almost completely lost in distance Jacob could faintly see other area of the cloud glowing with different colours but they were few and far between. All in all this space was strange and very, very alien.

"Sensors what do you read out there," he asked wondering if this whole galaxy was like what he could see on the screen. If it were then he had a feeling that the Tau'ri Federation would be wasting its time coming here to this galaxy in large numbers. Aside from satisfying their pure scientific curiosity there would be nothing here to interest them, certainly nothing that would be of any practical use.

"Sensors report that the space around us is filled with gas and dust sir," Commander Xing responded from the flag bridge sensor station. "The dust is composed primarily of carbon and various silicate materials though it's all laced with dark matter particles. The brighter areas of the cloud appear to indicate where there are stars."

"Are there any planets? We can't stay here floating in space indefinitely. We need to find somewhere for Rivendell to land."

"I'm afraid that we can't tell from here sir. The dust and gasses around us are really messing up our sensor screens. Not even the dark matter detectors can see though it, it's just too thick. Our sensor range is limited to barely half a light year beyond that the haze filling the screens makes it impossible to see anything."

Jacob frowned not liking the sound of that one bit, as he was essentially being told that the fleet was almost blind in this place. It put them at a huge tactical disadvantage; without long range scans they wouldn't detect any hostiles till they were literally right on top of them. That was worrying, while there was little this side of an Asgard battlecruiser that could go toe to toe with a Tau'ri warship and survive the encounter Jacob knew his ships weren't invincible. In an unknown galaxy he knew to be cautious – unlike some fleet commanders he knew of.

"I see. Very well locate the closest system and relay the coordinates to navigation. Navigation as soon as you have coordinates set a course the work with communications to relay to Rivendell and the rest of the fleet," Jacob ordered.

"Aye, sir," came the replies from the respective stations around the flag bridge. Jacob turned his full attention back to the screens and the strange alien space around them. He was contemplating the completely alien nature of the dark matter galaxy, and the unknown dangers it could hold, when the sensors came to life with an urgent warning.

"Admiral sensors report a hyperspace window opening on a bearing of one zero three mark two. Distance fifty thousand kilometres," Commander Xing reported. "Reading one ship; configuration unknown."

"Show me," Jacob instructed keeping his voice calm despite feeling a sudden thrill at what was happening. The fleet had been here all of five minutes and already they were in perhaps the rarest but also most dangerous occurrences, first contact with another space faring civilisation. "Communications prepare to send the first contact package."

"Aye, sir," communications responded as the screens changed to show an image of the approaching alien starship. Jacob blinked at what he saw, he had seen many starships of various kinds in his career with the Tau'ri Defence Forces ranging from the pyramidal Jaffa mothership to Aschen cruisers and the mighty O'Neill-class Asgard battlecruisers, but the approaching ship had to be the weirdest he had ever seen. Two long projecting tendrils tapered back from the bow and merged with a V-shaped superstructure that itself merged with a strange ball structure that glowed with energy. Aside from the energy ball of energy the ship was jet black with no observable windows at all.

As the alien starship closed in Jacob felt a strange chill go down his spine. Something about that ship struck a nerve, an instinct deep inside him. Something that warned him that the approaching ship was something terrible, that it was a ship of evil, a ship of death. Jacob repressed a sudden impulse to order his fleet to destroy the alien ship, to either blow it apart with their pulse cannons and combat drones or slice it in half with their particle slicer beams. He didn't know where the sudden impulse came from but he didn't want to act upon it, the last thing he wanted to do was potentially start a war.

"Communications hail that ship," Jacob said a moment before a commotion on the other side of the flag bridge caught his attention and he looked over.

To see that one of the two ships security personnel that routinely guarded the entrance to the flag bridge slumped against the wall. The young officer's features were contorted as if he were in pain; sweat was streaming down his face and at his sides his fists were clenched in effort. To Jacob it looked like the younger man was fighting something, some invisible force that was hurting him in someway.

"Lieutenant," he asked concerned. "What is it? What's wrong?" The officers eyes flew open and even from where he was sitting Jacob could see the pain, struggle and desperation in them.

"Sir h…h…help," the lieutenant gasped out shaking like a leaf in the midst of an obvious great struggle. "There t…t…trying to take c…control of my mind. I c…c…can't fig…." The lieutenant's voice tapered off and his eyes closed again. A moment before he screamed. A scream of pain, despair, dismay and defeat, a scream that sent shivers down the spines of everyone on the flag bridge. Abruptly the officer stood up straight, his face becoming an expressionless mask as eyes opened again.

Jacob stood up from his chair as the security officer looked accessingly around the flag bridge, drinking in all the details of what was around. Based on what the younger man had managed to say he knew he was looking at whoever had taken over his officer's mind and was using him like a puppet – presumably the aliens that were on the approaching ship.

"Who are you?" Jacob asked. The officer's eyes focused straight on him and a chill went down his spine. The young mans eyes had undergone an almost indescribable transformation; something was gone from them, something essentially human, replaced by something cold and terrible.

"You are not worthy of knowing our name. All you need to know is that we are power beyond your comprehension, hunger beyond your understanding," the officer replied in a monotone voice that was colder than the space outside the ship.

"What do you want?" Jacob demanded not phased by the alien's arrogance at all. "What have you done to my officer?"

"He is ours now inferior. We want your deaths."

"Admiral more hyperspace windows opening. Six more alien starships are approaching," Commander Xing reported as Jacob looked over in response to his call. "Sir alien ships are powering up their weapons systems and are raising their shields."

"Battle stations. Raise shields and power up all weapons systems," Jacob ordered before turning back to face the alien controlled security officer. "This isn't necessary," he said. "We are all sentient beings. If we have inadvertently violated your space we will withdraw. Surely ours species can coexist without bloodshed."

"Your words mean nothing. You are no more than cattle, you are inferior you all die. Then we will find your world and destroy it. You are not worthy to exist."

"If you plan to kill us you'll find we won't go down without a fight."

"It means nothing," the officer replied the cold monotone voice sounding stressed this time as if the controlling alien was having difficulty keeping its hold on the officers mind. "Surrender and die or fight and die. We care not w…w…which." At that moment the officer's eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the deck like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Startled Jacob looked at one of the display screens to see that the _Achilles _shields had just come on at full power. Somehow the force field had blocked whatever it was the aliens had been using to boost there telepathic control of the lieutenants mind. Jacob looked at the unconscious officer.

"Get a medical team up here take him to sickbay," he ordered before returning to his command chair and looking at the alien ships displayed on the screens. He immediately noticed that three of the alien ships were bigger than the others with more projecting tendrils than the others. The alien ships had deployed into an obvious attack formation with the three big ones in the middle. The energy spheres on all seven ships were glowing brightly.

"Alien vessels targeting sir," tactical reported.

"Let them take the first shot. As soon as they do open fire."

"Aye, sir."

Jacob watched the alien vessels as at the tip of the closest ship a point of light appeared. It remained static for a moment then flared brighter and a bolt of energy that almost looked like a ball of molten lava came streaking though space towards them. It impacted the shields of the _Achilles_ and exploded, the impact shaking the ship.

The _Achilles_ returned fire immediately. Slamming a broad green particle slicer beam into the alien shields. The alien's shields glowed like a nova under the assault of an energy beam that was capable of slicing any ship in half. The beam cut off a moment before a volley of eight twin pulsed particle bolts hit the alien ship. The alien shields withstood the first five twin pulses of disruptive particles. The sixth twin pulse collapsed the alien's forward shields allowing the seventh and eighth pulses impacting on the energy globe. Massive arcs of energy crackled around the globe for a moment before giving way to a massive eye-tearing explosion that completely vaporised the ship.

For a moment the rest of the alien fleet paused, startled by the firepower they'd just witnessed and how easily one of their number had been destroyed. Then all the ships opened fire, firing multiple lava like energy bolts. The Tau'ri ships responded in kind with there own pulse and beam weapons and both fleets slammed into each other in a total free for all space brawl.

Jacob held on as enemy fire crashed into the shields of the _Achilles_ each bolt shaking the mighty dreadnought violently.

"Report what are those weapons," Jacob asked even as he saw one of his ships the destroyer _Aegis_ explode as enemy weapons ripped through her shields to carve her hull open.

"Sensors indicate that there some kind of directed antiproton based plasma weapon. They pack a heck of a punch. Shields are at ninety percent and falling," tactical reported.

"Signal to all ships concentrate fire on the alien's energy globes," Jacob ordered. "Do not launch fighters they'd be too vulnerable to the aliens mind control abilities."

"Yes sir. Sir one of the aliens is firing at Rivendell."

Jacob nodded he could see it himself. One of the smaller alien ships fired a series of bolts at the cityship. The spherical force field surrounding the city flashed slightly at the points where the plasma balls impacted. The cities immensely powerful shields shrugging the blasts off like mere insect bites, which to Rivendell was all they were. Rivendell's shields were easily powerful enough to withstand weeks of bombardment by weapons such as the ones the aliens were using. Then Rivendell fired back, like all cityships she was not without defences. From the tip of one of the cities piers erupted a particle slicer beam that was both brighter and broader than any the _Achilles_ could generate. The immensely powerful beam slammed into the alien vessel that had dared to fire at the city. So great was its power that the beam ignored the alien shields to strike the alien vessel dead on the bow, the beam tore right through the whole length of the vessel to shoot out the other side, slicing the ship cleanly in half. The two halves of the ship drifted apart for a millisecond before being completely vaporised as the energy globe detonated.

_

* * *

Aboard the largest battleship in the rapid reaction force the Sinhindrea lord roared in rage and horror as one of the people's ships was instantly blown to subatomic particles by an energy beam of staggering power._

_This fight was not going as well as the lord would have liked. The new inferior's ships had very strong and sophisticated shields protecting them, shields that were somehow blocking the subspace signals that carried the telepathic impulses of his people's minds. It took out one of the Sinhindrea's greatest advantages in battle and to make matters that little bit worse the power of the alien weapons matched the sophistication of their shields. The inferiors were also being smart with their firepower, concentrating their attack on the power nodes forcing ships to direct additional power to keep the shields on that vital area intact._

_The lord watched in satisfaction as two more of the smaller inferiors ships died there shields giving way under heavy bombardment. Satisfaction turned to increased hatred as another Sinhindrea warship – a battleship this time – exploded as the inferiors beam and pulse weapons broke through its shields to tear open the power node. Simultaneously the biggest of the inferior's ships lashed out with its awesomely powerful beam again, sending another cruiser to its death in a blast of liberated energy._

_Observing the swiftly cooling, dispersing plasma clouds from the destroyed warship the lord came to the conclusion that this first battle was lost. The inferiors were too numerous and they had far too many advantages for his small fleet to defeat them. The lord knew though that next time the alien inferiors would not be so fortunate. They would be made to understand that the Sinhindrea were a power beyond comprehension, a hunger beyond understanding, right before they were consumed._

_The ship abruptly rocked violently around the lord creating pressure waves in the simulated aquatic environment so like the seas his kind had evolved in. Through a cyber link with the ships systems the lord knew his flagships was under heavy fire from three of the biggest alien ships, all shields facing them were down to sixty percent capacity and falling._

_A transmission on fleet command frequencies appeared across the lord's consciousness even as the ship rocked with even more force, enemy fire was starting to get through to hit the hull on random vectors. Damage warnings flashed for the lord's attention but he ignored them as the communiqué unfolded in his consciousness. The full sector defence fleet had mobilised and was coming here at full speed. The lord was gratified even as the ship bucked and rocked under the inferiors merciless pummelling. The shields were almost gone and the lord knew that in a moment death would come for him, but then it would come for the inferiors as well soon._

_A final volley of beams and pulses from the inferiors tore through the shields to slam into the power node. The lord closed its multiple eyes as the world vanished in a blinding blast of heat and pain._

**

* * *

Flag Bridge**

**TFS Achilles**

Admiral Jacob Robyns shielded his eyes as the biggest of the alien warships exploded after its energy globe was sliced open. When the glare of the ships death blast faded he lowered his hand and looked at what was left of the alien fleet. Only two of the alien ships were left and they were taking fire from every ship in his small fleet.

As he watched Jacob watched as the smaller of the two was sliced in half by one of his cruisers, the slicer beam destroying the centre sections of the projecting tendrils that seemed to serve as long barrels for the alien's powerful plasma weapon. The remaining sections of the ship drifted apart before exploding together.

"Communications hail the remaining ship," Jacob ordered while waving a hand at the thin cloud of smoke that hung in the air of the bridge from a burned out console. "Tell them to surrender or be destroyed."

"Aye, sir." As if in answer the alien warship fired two more plasma bolts at the _Achilles_. Jacob held on as the ship rocked under the impact, the almost depleted bow shields barely holding.

"Fine if that's what they want," Jacob said. "Tactical get that ship out of my sky."

"Aye, sir."

A final particle slicer beam streaked forth from the _Achilles_ and made contact with the alien ship. The alien shields were too weakened to offer any real resistance and the beam ignored them to tear into and through the energy globe. The globe detonated instantly, reducing the ship to nothing more than a plume of superheated plasma. As the glare of the ships quick, explosive death faded Jacob sighed to himself.

"Damage report," he ordered.

"Shields down to thirteen percent capacity. It's going to take awhile to get them back as several power relays to the generators have burned out. Moderate damaged in all forward sections. No hull breaches reported and all internal fires are being contained and should be out momentarily," one of the flag bridge operations officers reported. "Similar damage reports are coming in from all of our ships, save for Rivendell."

Jacob sighed again considering his options. While the damage to his remaining ships could be repaired relatively quickly he didn't really think they should stay in this galaxy at all now. He knew that command wouldn't blame him if he gave the order to withdraw from this galaxy, especially given the extremely hostile reaction of the natives. The very last thing the Tau'ri Federation wanted or needed was to get into a war. _There isn't really a choice if we're to avoid a war,_ Jacob thought, _the only viable option is to withdraw._

"Communications," he said.

"Sir?"

"Hail Rivendell I need to speak to Governor Shepherd," Jacob ordered know that for forms sake if nothing else he should speak to Governor Alison Shepherd about their next move. Though given what had happened Jacob didn't doubt she would agree with him.

"Aye, sir." Before the communications technician could turn to the task however the sensors came to life again with urgent warnings.

"Admiral multiple hyperspace windows opening. Twenty-five more alien capital ships approaching along with a thousand smaller ships roughly equivalent in size to a Jaffa cargo ship. From the readings their giving off I believe them to be some kind of fighters," Commander Xing reported in alarm. _Oh hell,_ Jacob thought.

"All ships come about and jump into hyperspace. We're withdrawing from this galaxy," Jacob ordered. "Rivendell and her support ships are to jump first then all other ships will follow. All warships launch drones to cover the retreat."

"Aye sir."

Jacob kept his eyes focused on the screen which had focused on the alien fleet that was bearing down on them. The aliens were approaching at a purposeful but not particularly fast pace. _Probably trying to intimidate us before they destroy us,_ Jacob thought, _not that I plan to let these hostiles destroy us._

As the thoughts passed through Jacobs head hatches opened on the outer hulls of all his ships and from each vessel came a swarm of two hundred small, glowing yellow squid-like projectiles. Rivendell got in on the act as well launching a stream of its own combat drones. Though not as lethal as the Ancient weapons they were reverse engineered from the combat drones were ferociously fast devices and their ability to achieve a partially phased state allowing them to bypass almost anyone's shields made them a lethal weapons system in their own right. _Chew on those,_ Jacob thought as the drones streaked towards the alien fleet to sow their own unique brand of havoc.

_

* * *

Aboard the biggest Sinhindrea battleship the lord in command of the sector defence fleet roared in rage as the strange glowing projects the inferiors had fired reached his fleet and began sowing absolute mayhem. The yellow glowing weapons homed in on the Youngling piloted fighters, each projectile simply ignored the fighter's defensive shield to impact and destroy the vessel._

_In desperation some of the Younglings began firing their plasma bolts at the incredibly fast and agile alien weapons. Most of the bolts missed their targets by a mile but even when they hit the inferiors weapons were unharmed, passing through the bolts as if they didn't exist. The lord seethed as whole wings of fighters exploded under the attack._

_Understanding came as the ships sensors probed to projectiles as the rest of the crew endeavoured to help the embattled Younglings. The inferiors weapons appeared to be in a partially phased state, each surrounded by a field that put it slightly out of phase with normal matter. Concentrated energy like a plasma bolt or like the weak shields on the Younglings fighters were not an obstacle though the weapons would probably not penetrate the shields on the capital ships. As the lord watched a number of the projectiles pelted one of the smaller cruisers, each weapon partially penetrating the shield to detonate in the force field itself. The cruisers shields flashed and rippled with distortion waves that raced along the whole length of the ship, then the shields collapsed as small explosions erupted on the cruiser as shield emitters overloaded and detonated. Several more projectiles closed in on the vulnerable cruiser and ripped into the power node, sending the cruiser to its death in a blinding explosion._

_The lord seethed in anger at the destruction of yet another Sinhindrea warship. Then the cyber link with the ship alerted the lord to the fact that the inferiors ships had turned away and that sensors indicated that their hyperdrives were powering up. The inferiors were escaping, that could not be allowed they had to be made to pay for all the lives they had taken._

_Incensed beyond description the Sinhindrea lord ordered all guns on all ships to fire upon the inferiors. They were outside optimum range but the lord knew they stood a reasonable chance of hitting the inferiors and stopping them escaping._

* * *

Volleys of lava like plasma bolts flew from the Sinhindrea capital ships towards the retreating Tau'ri expeditionary fleet. The blasts of plasmatic death arrived just as the whole fleet was entering hyperspace, fired from extreme range the bolts missed the Tau'ri ships but impacted on the event horizon of the hyperspace window, with devastating results.

The hyperspace window flashed and rippled with rainbow colour before seeming to twist and distort before becoming a green-white funnel that first pulled in Rivendell, then the _Achilles_ and the rest of the cityships escort/support fleet, all the ships vanishing in a flash of brilliant light as they crossed the event horizon. Then the mutated hyperspace window collapsed in upon itself and closed, a massive subspace energy wave blasting forth from its position.

The subspace wave – a rolling wave of pure power travelling at close on light speed – slammed into the Sinhindrea before they could even begin to react. The fighters succumbed instantly, disintegrating in violent explosions. The capital ships were more fortunate, their shields held off the worst of the waves destructive energy but the inertial force of the wave knocked them tumbling away out of control.

After a few moments the Sinhindrea got their ships back under control and their sensors swept the area for any sign of their prey. But their was no sign, the Tau'ri ships were gone as if they had never been.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Flag Bridge**

**TFS Achilles**

Admiral Jacob Robyns emitted a horrified gasp as he saw the barrage of plasma bolts from the pursing alien fleet impact on the event horizon of the hyperspace window. The window flashed with rainbow colour and before he could even react transformed into a glowing green vortex. He started to open his mouth to issue a frantic emergency order but before any sound could emerge his ships and Rivendell were pulled into the mutated hyperspace window.

The _Achilles_ rocked violently as she crossed the event horizon of the mutated subspace distortion field and was immediately thrown around like a child's toy. All around the fleet the normal calm blue slipstream effect of hyperspace shattered and warped, transforming into a crackling green white and blue maelstrom of energy. Massive arcs of what looked almost like lightning leapt between the walls of tunnel through subspace and the fleet, crackling over the starships and cityship, encasing all of them in spheres of pulsating light.

Jacob gasped as he suddenly felt incredible tension and pain erupt across his whole body. It felt almost like the basic matter of which his body was composed was being subjected to intense stress, alternatively being compressed and pulled. The pain was blindingly intense, tearing at his very sanity. Faintly he heard himself screaming, his screams mingling with the screams of everyone else on the flag bridge and throughout the entire fleet as they all experienced the same unbearable torment.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity of unbearable agony the torment ended as light pulsed through the hulls of every ship even Rivendell and swept everyone in the fleet into unconsciousness.

**

* * *

Rivendell**

**Sometime Later**

Governor Alison Shepherd groaned as she opened her eyes, to find herself flat on the floor of Rivendell's control room. Slowly, awkwardly she sat up, her whole body was still aching from whatever that was they had passed through after the unknown alien's powerful plasma weapons had pelted the hyperspace window as they tried to leave the dark matter galaxy.

"Status report," she ordered weakly, their was no reply from anyone in the control room. Frowning Alison awkwardly got to her feet, grabbing the edge of one of the consoles for support as her legs felt like they were made of jelly.

Slowly she looked around the control room. To see that everyone was still unconscious, though one or two people were showing signs of coming out of it, though it would probably be a couple of minutes before anyone opened their eyes. Alison guessed that everyone in Rivendell was like that, badly affected by whatever the alien weapons fire had turned the hyperspace window into. _Have to get a status report the other way,_ Alison thought with a soft sigh.

"Arwen," she called out. Immediately a holographic representation of Rivendell's A.I computer system appeared in front of her. Like its namesake the avatar appeared as a beautiful, fragile looking elfin princess with long flowing hair and dressed in a flowing white robe of intricate weave. The robe the avatar wore seemed to shimmer slightly, a purposeful feature designed to make Arwen appear almost angelic.

"Yes Governor Shepherd," Arwen asked politely.

"Status report please Arwen," Alison replied. "What is the condition of the city?"

"All systems are fully operational Governor Shepherd," Arwen replied instantly. "Many of the residents appear to be unconscious however I am reading a number of individuals moving around in the more shielded areas here in the central tower and on the engineering levels."

"What about our escorts," Alison asked. "Are they still with us?"

"Yes. I am reading life signs on all of our escort warships however most appear to be unconscious just like here in the city. Though is some movement aboard the _Achilles._ I believe it is only a matter of time before everyone here and on the escort squadron recover from the effects of the disturbance."

"I see thank you Arwen. Do you have any idea what happened to the hyperspace window Arwen?"

"Negative Governor Shepherd, however sensors did record a number of quantum shifts during the passage through the disturbance. Sensors are also reporting something very strange."

"What is it?"

"We are back in normal space and according to my navigational processors we are back in the Milky Way galaxy. However star patterns around us do not precisely match those in my database, quantum readings have changed, plus I am reading no subspace activity of any kind."

"None at all," Alison exclaimed shocked. Normally the Milky Way was alive with subspace activity of all kinds from Stargate activity, to ships travelling in hyperspace, to interstellar communications chatter. There was simply no way that subspace traffic could simply vanish from existence. "Recheck your sensors Arwen."

For a second the avatar was silent, giving a good impression of a person thinking. "Readings confirmed Governor Shepherd," Arwen said at last. "There is no subspace traffic of any kind though I am picking up a lot of tachyon streams and pulses travelling through a deep subspace layer. Origin and nature are unknown. Governor based on the available information and the difference in the quantum resonance frequency of the space around us I compute that we are in the right galaxy but the wrong quantum universe."

"How could that happen?" Alison demanded. "How could we cross universes, I mean it's not like anyone around here has a quantum mirror handy."

"Unknown. I can run simulations based on all available data to determine how this has occurred," Arwen suggested.

"Do it."

"Yes Governor Shepherd."

Arwen disappeared as a soft groan came from somewhere else in the control room. Turning in place Alison saw that some more of the control room staff were starting to come around. Smiling softly Alison moved over to the closest recovering console operator to help the young man wake up.

**

* * *

Flag Bridge**

**TFS Achilles**

The feel of someone gently shaking his shoulders brought Admiral Robyns back to consciousness. Slowly he opened his eyes to find Captain Josephine Owens standing in front of his command chair, a chair he had somehow managed to stay in despite the violent shaking that had gripped the _Achilles_.

"Status report!" he faintly heard her shout.

No answers were forthcoming as he slowly rose to her feet, unable to stay up he collapsed into the command chair. Others around them were others coming to their senses, Owens had managed to bring up one of the displays near her own seat and was scanning the systems as they came back online.

"Status report Jo."

"We're alive sir, that's all I can tell, most of the internal comm. is down and the few internal sensors we have indicate that the crews' out of commission."

"Can we get anything?

"Negative, until we can get through to the other sections we're bind and deaf."

"External scans."

"Also offline, ship to ship communication is sketchy at best."

"Try to contact anyone you can, find Rivendell if you can. I hope she survived the jump."

"Aye Sir."

The Admiral stood up unsteadily to find several more of his crew straining to pick themselves sup from their prone positions, one of the younger crewmembers was trying to wake up one closest to her.

"Crewman, are you alright."

The girl looked up at the Admiral surprised at hearing his voice so close behind her, she nodded and looked down at her companion, another young woman that held a resemblance to the other girl. One look was more than sufficient to know the young girl was dead, the pale skin and blood around her head showing that she had bled out and died from an unknown injury.

"Are you alright?"

"I think so sir, she's dead."

"I'm sorry, but we need everyone at their posts. I need you back on duty."

"Aye sir, sorry sir."

The Admiral nodded and stood back up his legs stronger and steadier than before, others were also at their stations looking haggard and bloodied. _Its probably like this all over the ship,_ he thought.

"By stations, status report," he ordered, he needed to know what exactly was working and what systems were off line be if from the battle or the effects of the mutated hyperspace window.

"Tactical: shields are down, primary and secondary weapons systems not responding, point defence network not responding."

"Sensors down, we're blind." _Blind and defenceless brilliant,_ Jacob thought resisting the impulse to rub his temples.

"Helm: hyperdrive is out, sub-light drives on line but the navigational computer isn't responding, looks like some of the crystals have been jarred loose."

"Communications: internal and long range down, ship to ship is active."

"Engineering: no idea in total sir I can't get any response from the upper engineering decks. Main ZPM power is off line however, looks like they need to be reset. Backup power and naquada fusion generators are online, ship power levels at sixty percent of normal. I can confirm that the sub-light drive is fully operational but that the hyperdrive is down. Until we get full power back I won't be able to tell about anything else?"

Admiral Robyns looked around the bridge, each of the stations was now manned but he was horrified to see a number of his crew dead on the fleer. Blood was pooled around each as it was on the faces of each of the crew, how the rest of the crew looked or the other ships had fared he had no idea. But if it was anything like this then they would have lost a number of people.

"Captain, have you contacted any of the others."

"We're getting calls from some of the other ships, but two of the destroyers are completely silent."

"Where's Rivendell?"

"Two million kilometres aft of the fleet, can't get anything from them either."

"Flash running lights, Morse code to all ships. _Achilles_ active and ready, all ships reply via normal communications protocols or Morse code. Request update on all systems and combat effectiveness." The admiral turned to tactical, "Lt Thorson, How long till we get our weapons and shields back?"

The tactical officer scanned his readouts looking over the weapons status of the ship's primary and secondary weapons, the shields and armour effectiveness was next until he had finally managed to get the information needed. The loss of the major weapons systems as well as the shielding left them vulnerable to an attack, the smaller ships would possibly be worse off due to their lesser shields and armour.

"I believe I can get some of our secondary weapons systems online sir," he said at last. "Drone launchers are well but primary weapons and shields will have to wait until we get full power restored. Shield generators will also have to be repaired they took a hell of a beating against the alien's plasma weapons."

"Concentrate on point defence and secondary weapons for now," Robyns ordered. "Can we launch any fighters."

"Yes sir we can." _That's something at least,_ Jacob thought with a sigh of relief. At least they could deploy a cap and wouldn't be completely defenceless.

"Get a cap out there as soon as possible."

"Aye, sir."

"Sir we're receiving a message from Rivendell," communications reported, relief apparent in the officer's voice. Relief Jacob Robyns understood and shared, if they were talking then somebody was alive over there.

"Put it on main screen."

"Aye, sir." The main screen at the front of the flag bridge came on showing the face and torso of Governor Shepherd, she looked a little haggard but other than that she seemed to be alright. Personnel could also be seen moving about Rivendell's control room behind her.

"Admiral, good to see you alive," Shepherd said relief in her voice.

"Governor Shepherd, its good to see you too. Status report from your end please."

"All systems are operational, most of my crew were knocked out by the jump. Shields are operational at seventy three percent, some of our weapons are working we've lost the particle slicer cannons but all pulse cannons and drone launchers are operational, engineering should be up and running again within the hour. Once there back up it shouldn't take us long to bring the city back to full operational status. We were lucky Admiral."

"Crew casualties?"

"We don't know yet Admiral, we know there are a few fatalities aboard but a lot more unconscious or comatose. Arwen is polling the crew as we speak but it's not good, what is the fleet's status?"

"We don't know, with a few exceptions the rest of the ships are incommunicado."

"The _Achilles_?"

"Down for the count, most of our systems are dead including weapons and long range sensors. We can launch fighters though so we'll be getting a cap out as soon as we get enough pilots. Looks like Rivendell will be our eyes and ears for a while, how are the tractor and docking systems?"

"There intact and operational I take it you wish to implement Operation Cocoon?"

"Yes, as soon as possible we need to get our ships repaired and soon."

"Alright I'll send out the Jumpers to tow the smaller ships in, the capital ships may have to wait until we get the engines back online."

"That's fine. If we can get the smaller ships inside the protection of Rivendell's shields then we can focus the repair efforts of the engineers on our larger ships." Shepherd nodded.

"I'll get it organised from this end," she replied at last. "Good luck Admiral."

"To all of us." Shepherd nodded and broke the connection from her end, Jacob sighed and returned to his command chair to think and wonder what he was going to do next.

**

* * *

TFS Achilles**

**Sometime Later**

Admiral Robyns sat in the quiet of his personnel office reading through the legions of reports that had been flooding in from all the ships in his task force as well as departments within the _Achilles_ herself. Full power had been restored to all ships and they finally had their hyperdrives and long range sensors back, but that was all. The fleet and Rivendell were still in a poor tactical condition though at least all ships could now launch drones and the cruiser _Jutland_ had reported that there shields and pulse cannons would be back online within another hour.

The worst news though was the casualty reports. All the ships in the task force and even on Rivendell had lost some people though the loss was fewer on Rivendell. Two of the destroyers were actually running on skeleton crews and it was only being docked with Rivendell that was enabling them to do any repair work. The crew members that had died had mostly died of some kind of neural shock that had caused intense bleeding from all the blood vessels in the brain. Others were in a comatose condition but were showing signs of beginning to recover. Amongst them was Lieutenant Stark – though his condition was different as he'd been the one the aliens had taken over and used as their mouthpiece – he was semi-awake and seemed to be badly traumatised by his experience.

Even more bad news was present in the reports. Arwen had confirmed her initial scans and confirmed that while they were in the Milky Way galaxy again they were in a completely different quantum universe to one they had originated in. The lack of any subspace activity beyond the small emissions the fleet was beginning to once more put out proved that they were on their own. It wasn't a situation Jacob liked at all, being cut off from any chance of support from home, even in the dark matter galaxy they had not been so isolated as all they would have had to do to summon aid was jump to the space between galaxies and call. A call that would bring attention from other Tau'ri starships and the Asgard. For the first time the Milky Way was worrying Jacob as while many of the stars were familiar they were now at the same time strangely hostile.

"Bridge to Admiral Robyns," Captain Owens voice abruptly said over the comm. making Jacob jump slightly, even as he touched the offending device and a holographic screen appeared over his desk.

"Yes captain?"

"Sir we're receiving a hail from Rivendell. Governor Shepherd wants to have a word with you about a matter of utmost urgency."

"Put her through."

"Aye, sir." Owens image disappeared to be replaced instantly by Governor Shepherds and it was immediately obvious that she was very, very worried about something.

"Yes Governor Shepherd," Jacob asked inwardly wondering what particular additional hot potato was about to be dropped in his lap.

"Admiral we have a very serious problem developing over here," Governor Shepherd replied. "For that past hour there have been slightly fluctuations in the cities power distribution grid. My engineers have traced the problem to one of our three zero point modules. The internal crystalline structure of the ZPM has been badly cracked, we believe that it occurred during our passage to this universe. The ZPM in question is not producing as much power as we estimate that it has barely twenty percent of its original capacity left. Capacity that is being constantly drained by the fact that we're in space and have to maintain full shields around the whole city."

"Do you have any in storage," Jacob asked worried. If there weren't any in storage then it meant they would have to find a planet for Rivendell to land on as soon as possible. The cityship wouldn't be able to stay in space with just two zero point modules active, even with the backup naquada fusion generators that all Tau'ri built cityships had, it would not be enough energy. Like all cityships Rivendell was an extremely energy hungry beast.

"I'm afraid not Admiral," Shepherd replied. "When we were sent on this mission it was assumed that we would not need anymore ZPM's for at least a month. We do have the apparatus and enough materials onboard to manufacture some more ZPM's but as you know it is a very long, energy intensive process. It takes a week to make even one and the damaged ZPM wont last that long."

"Then we need to find a planet for you to land upon as quickly as possible," Jacob said. "How long until the damaged ZPM gives up the ghost?"

"My engineers estimate that it will give out within two days," Shepherd replied. "Arwen believes that she has located a suitable planet on the long range sensors. Its in a binary star system about eighty light years from our current location, however using the hyperdrive will drain the damaged ZPM of almost all remaining power. We cannot afford to jump there without confirmation." _Damn,_ Jacob thought then thought fast. There was really only one way to get Rivendell the confirmation that they needed and that was to send one of his ships there. There was only one he could really send at the moment.

"I see," he said at last. "The _Jutland_ will have their pulse cannons and shields back online within the hour. As there back online I will send them to investigate and see if we can get the confirmation that you require." Shepherd looked relieved.

"Thank you, Admiral," she replied genuine relief in her voice. Relief that Jacob could well understand, there were twenty five thousand people on Rivendell and with one ZPM failing on them all their lives were at risk.

"It's no trouble I will arrange it as soon as we clear down."

"Then I will let you go. Thank you again, Admiral."

"You're welcome, Governor." Shepherd smiled once then nodded and disappeared as the signal from Rivendell was terminated. Jacob sighed softly and massaged his temples for a few moments before reaching out and touching the intercom control.

"Communications hail the _Jutland_. I want to speak with Captain McKenzie immediately," he said.

"Aye, sir."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Bridge**

**TFS Jutland**

**An Hour Later**

Captain Aaron McKenzie stepped onto the bridge of his starship and made his way to his command chair. He wasn't strictly happy about leaving the fleet while most of the ships only had limited or no defensive capabilities, but he knew there was no choice. The situation that Rivendell was in with a failing zero point module meant that he had no choice but to go. Not leaving to check the planet Arwen had found would put twenty five thousand people on the cityship in unacceptable peril.

"Status report," he ordered.

"We have received the coordinates of the planet from Rivendell sir," Ensign Michelson reported from the helm.

"Hyperdrive online and ready to go sir," the officer manning the bridge engineering station reported.

"Tactical: status report?"

"Shields are back online and are standing by sir," tactical reported. "Secondary weapons arrays are back online as are the point defence systems. Primary pulse particle cannons are back online though our particle slicer beams remain offline. Engineering estimates we'll have them back in four hours."

"Pulse weapons and drones should be enough if we run into trouble," McKenzie replied. "Communications advise the _Achilles_ that we are ready to depart."

"Aye sir," communications responded and relayed the message to the _Achilles_ flag bridge. Almost instantly there came a response. "Sir the _Achilles_ has acknowledged we are about to depart. Admiral Robyns says good luck and good hunting."

"Acknowledged," McKenzie replied. "Okay Ensign Michelson take us to the system in question."

"Aye sir," Michelson responded before pressing the command to execute the precision jump to the system all the while hoping the navigational system worked correctly. Eighty light years as a ridiculously short distance for a starship, whose hyperdrive was capable of crossing between galaxies in a period of weeks, they would be relying on precision computer guidance for the trip. Even with interactive controls that could to a degree read the console operators thoughts it would be to short a jump for a human being to control.

Instantly an up-scaling humming sound could be heard throughout the whole of the Agamemnon-class heavy cruiser as her mighty hyperdrives began powering up. Captain McKenzie turned his full attention to the high definition screen at the front of the bridge as ahead of them a hyperspace window formed. With a momentary surge of acceleration the _Jutland_ crossed the distance and entered hyperspace. For a moment they saw nothing but the shimmering soft nebulous blue slipstream of hyperspace then almost to fast to blink, it was over. Hyperspace once more gave way to stars glowing brightly against the blackness of space.

"Report," McKenzie ordered. "Michelson where are we?"

Ensign Michelson checked his sensor readings and smiled at what he saw and the information the console fed into his mind. The navigational computer had not failed them, they had emerged from hyperspace exactly where they had intended to emerge.

"Right where we expected to be sir," he replied. "Sensors are reading seven planets in this system, three terrestrial planets, one in the liquid water zone and four gas giants."

"Excellent. Set a course to orbit the planet in the liquid water zone. Sensors being your scans to determine planetary viability."

"Aye, sir," Michelson and the officer at sensors replied in unison, before setting to their respective tasks.

Captain McKenzie sat back in his command chair and watched the front screen as the _Jutland_ began moving towards the planet that had teased Rivendell's sensors. The planet came into view and immediately it looked promising. The planet was quite large almost twice Earths mass, with three large contents separated by broad blue oceans. Contents and oceans alike were sheathed in thin whiffs and banks of clouds. A set of rings surrounded the planet and in orbiting it were two moons.

Silently the _Jutland's_ sensors reached across space and began gathering information on the planet ahead of them, searching for a variety of factors. The most important being the presence of sentient life, they would not intrude on a planet where there was an intelligent race no matter how primitive it was, no matter how great there need was.

"Primary scans completed sir," sensors reported. "No sentient life of any kind present on the planet. We are detecting ruins on the eastern continent but their heavily overgrown, looks like they've been abandoned for sometime. Biosphere of the planet is viable. We're reading large veins of naquada and trinium present on the planet. Principle scans have also located a probable landing site for Rivendell."

"Where?"

"A large inland sea on the southern continent on visual now sir."

The front view screen changed showing a close up of the planet and a massive sea that was almost completely landlocked. Only a single wide valley connected it with the ocean, the sea was huge. The data scrolling down the side of the screen indicated that it was two hundred and fifty miles long by one hundred miles wide. Seeing it McKenzie smiled inland seas or large lakes were perfect locations to land cityships, sheltered but still easily deep enough for the massive spaceships.

"Excellent," he said. "Communications signal the _Achilles_. Tell Admiral Robyns that the planet passes all initial scans and should be safe for Rivendell."

"Aye sir," communications replied and turned to the task. A moment before the sensors bleeped and chimed for attention.

"Captain sensors are picking up a disturbance forty five thousand kilometres to port approximately three light minutes out," sensors reported. "A spatial rift of some sort is opening, from the energy readings its being artificially generated."

"Show me." The screen view changed to show open space and a strange glowing blue vortex that unfolded before their eyes. "Sensors what do you make of it?"

"Its almost reading like a wormhole sir but there are overtones of a hyperspace window. Sensors are picking up evidence of another space beyond the vortex. My guess is it's a portal either to another dimension or a very deep subspace layer. Sir something is coming through, a ship. It's huge."

McKenzie nodded he could see it himself. The dark aperture in the centre of the vortex flashed once then a massive, strangely primitive looking ship emerged. The vortex folded closed behind it indicating that the ship had been responsible for its creation. McKenzie studied the ship carefully; it was massive easily bigger than the _Achilles_ or anything this side of a cityship. But it looked very primitive, with two rotational gravity sections spinning around its centre sections and aft of them a pair of solar panels ran one going straight up the other straight down.

"Tactical analysis," he ordered as the ship came to a halt.

"Unknown vessel is six point one kilometres long sir," sensors reported. "However mass is considerably lower than what I would have thought for a ship that big. The ship generates artificial gravity by centrifugal force. Minimal armament present, I show only two laser cannons and four plasma cannons of some type. Ship is powered by eight nuclear fusion reactors that are putting out barely half the power of even one naquada fusion reactor. Reading over nine hundred life forms onboard, life signs… sir life signs are Human."

"What! Confirm that."

"Confirmed sir. Life signs are unmistakeably Human." McKenzie frowned slightly, more than a little confused. Humans as far as he knew didn't build vessels that size very often and certainly not vessels so primitive that they didn't possess even basic artificial gravity. Even the first Tau'ri built vessel the _Prometheus_ had had artificial gravity from the word go. _But we are in another universe Aaron,_ he told himself, _Human technology in this reality might be a lot less advanced than what you are used to._

"Sir the vessel is bombarding us with tachyon particles," tactical reported. "From the frequency I'd say it's some kind of scan. Passive ECM systems are automatically blocking their scans. Shall I raise our shields?"

"No. Don't override the passive ECM either lets see what they do."

"Aye, sir."

**

* * *

EAS Cortez**

**A Few Moments Earlier**

Captain Jack Maynard sipped some of the synthetic crap that passed for coffee on Earth Alliance starships and gazed at the front screens as his massive explorer ship made for the final system on their mission schedule. This latest mission for the _Cortez_ had gone very well indeed, even better than had previously been thought of. They had charted a number of new star systems, some of which were suitable for settlement and one of whom had turned out to rich in the valuable Quantium 40 ore, and built a number of new jump gates to access the sectors.

Now the _Cortez_ was bound for System NL-24, the farest the bold exploration ship had been from home. Once they were done charting this system they would turn around and begin the long journey back home to Earth. Long range probes had indicated the possible presence of an Earth-like planet and large mineral resources in the system, the habitable planet alone would qualify this system for investigation. Ever since the end of the disastrous war with the Minbari ten years before Earth had been seeking out new systems with a vengeance, determined to prove to the galaxy at large that while they had all but lost the war with the Minbari Earth was far from out of the interstellar game. Maynard knew it was really necessary to colonise as many systems as could be found but EarthGov felt that it was important for some reason and he wouldn't complain. It afforded him many chances to see things that no Human eyes had ever seen before.

"Captain we've reached the co-ordinates," his XO reported.

"Very good. Navigation stand by to jump to normal space," Maynard ordered.

"Jump engines standing by," navigation replied.

"Jump," Maynard ordered and the lights dimmed slightly as the explorer ships power was shunted into her mighty jump engines. Ran through purified Quantium 40 the energy flow generated the field that applied immense pressure to a region of hyperspace directly ahead of the ship, opening a doorway between the red and black marbled realm of hyperspace and normal space. With a familiar jolting sensation the _Cortez_ cruised through the open jump point into normal space. Almost instantly the sensor console chimed for attention.

"Unknown contact bearing two one zero mark, distance three light minutes," sensors called out. "One ship unknown configuration."

Instantly Maynard was fully alert his eyes fixed on the display screens as the forward optical sensors pulled in a blurred outline of a starship. A starship that was roughly about the same size as a Hyperion-class heavy cruiser though the configuration that could be observed did not match anything on record. The ship was sleek and powerful looking made of a silvery grey metal, its design like the design of Minbari warships seemed to convey a frightening combination of elegance and predatory fierceness. Precise details were impossible to make out over distance however. Maynard knew that the _Cortez_ had just stumbled into what was the most dangerous of interstellar meetings, first contact with another spacefaring race and from the distant look of the ship a very powerful one.

Maynard felt butterflies of nerves beginning to flutter about in his stomach even as he was unconsciously aware of the rest of the bridge crew looking at him, waiting for his orders. He knew an awful lot was riding on him now; he had to get this meeting right. Earth was all too aware of the consequences of a botched first contact meeting; it was a meeting botched by that trigger happy fool Captain Jankowski that had started the war with the Minbari.

"All stop," he ordered after a moment. "Bring us to a dead halt then stand by to broadcast standard Interlac first contact protocols."

"Aye, sir," came the replies from the respective stations. A moment before the lights and consoles seemed to flicker. The screens washing with static for a few seconds before firming back up though the flickering lights continued.

"What's going on," the XO asked.

"The alien ship is scanning us sir," operations reported. "The EMP from their scanners is tremendous, far greater even than Minbari scanners. It's playing hell with our systems." Abruptly the lights stopped flickering and all the displays returned to normal. "Scanners have stopped."

"What's the alien ship doing," Maynard asked.

"Nothing sir there just sitting there, not turning towards us or anything."

"There waiting to see what we're going to do," the XO hazarded as a guess.

"Possibly," Maynard agreed. "Try scanning but be gentle about it we don't want to spook them."

"Aye, sir," sensors replied and for a moment was silent. "Scan's are not getting through sir we're encountering some sort of stealth field similar to that used by the Minbari but different. We are getting some energy emissions from the ship, sir these energy readings are off the scale."

"They must be shy," the XO said.

"Or just merely cautious about meeting a new race," Maynard replied. "Communications try and open a channel to the alien starship. Transmit Interlac first contact codes."

"Aye, sir."

**

* * *

TFS Jutland**

Captain McKenzie kept a cautious eye on the primitive looking starship belonging to the Humans of this universe. It was quite surprising that there were Humans here at all besides themselves, knowing that they weren't strictly alone that there were others of their kind here, made him feel a little easier. Though he was also a little concerned, if their were Humans here were any of the other races known to them here as well, especially the troublesome ones. _What are they waiting for,_ he wondered looking at the primitive ship that their optical scans had revealed to be called the _Cortez_ at least according to the nameplate on her side.

"Sir the _Cortez_ is directing a coherent tachyon beam at us," sensors reported. "I'm picking up a digital radio signal imbedded in the tachyon stream." _Interesting,_ McKenzie thought guessing that tachyons were their method of instantaneous communication. While not as efficient as the subspace signals they were used to tachyons did have the potential to be used in that way.

"Communications can we tap into the signal?" he asked.

"Yes sir I believe so," communications replied. "I'll just have to reconfigure one of our short range comm. arrays to decipher the message. Stand by."

McKenzie rotated the command chair slightly to watch the officer manipulating the controls with one hand while his other was pressed against the crystalline control surfaces of the console forming the link between the computer and his mind. After a few moments of diligent work the officer looked up with a smile.

"I've got it sir," he said. "The signal is repeating constantly and is a simple series of universal mathematical concepts along with a very basic language. Similar to our own standard first contact packages, they obviously think that we are aliens."

"Well to them we are lieutenant," McKenzie replied. "It would be well to remember that though there Human as well they are alien to us."

"I understand sir. Shall we respond," communications asked a moment before the console chirped. "Sir message from the _Achilles_. The rest of the task force and Rivendell will be jumping to our co-ordinates in ten minutes."

"Advise Admiral Robyns of our situation, tell him to hold off until we signal him," McKenzie ordered. "Then sent a broadcast message in the language they provided to the _Cortez_. Tell them 'This is the Tau'ri cruiser _Jutland._ You are in our space please identify yourselves and state your intentions.'"

"Aye sir."

**

* * *

EAS Cortez**

"Sir we're receiving a response in Interlac from the alien vessel," communications reported. _At least there trying to talk to us,_ Maynard thought with a smile, it was much better than the alternative. Especially as the armament the _Cortez_ had available was truly pitiful and barely adequate to protect the ship.

"What do they say," he asked.

"They say 'This is the Tau'ri cruiser _Jutland_. Please identify yourselves and state your intentions.'" Maynard's eyebrows shot up at the very Earth-style name of the alien starship that was very unanticipated, unless this species had been monitoring Earth radio signals for the last few centuries and had based some of the elements of their culture off them. It wouldn't be the first time that had happened, the Brakiri being a case in point.

"Reply that 'This is the Earth Alliance starship _Cortez_. We intend no aggression and only wish peaceful contact.'"

"Aye, sir." For a moment their was silence as the message was sent to the _Jutland_ and they awaited the alien crews response. "Response 'be that as it may you have violated our territory. Please withdraw immediately.'"

"Advise them that we will comply when our jump engines have had sufficient time to recharge," Maynard ordered, mildly disappointed that they weren't going to really learn anything about these Tau'ri. "Also ask if they will allow an exchange of basic information. Even if they don't agree send them basic information on how to contact us in the future should they wish to do so." _Maybe they'll come to Babylon Five and contact us there,_ he thought, _it might make them more comfortable dealing with us if they have dozens of other species about as a witness. Hopefully Sinclair will be ready and willing to deal with them if they come._

"Aye, sir."

"It is a pity where not going to get a chance to talk to them and learn more," his XO said.

"I don't blame them for asking us to leave XO if we've violated their territory," Maynard replied. "At least they have asked politely, most species we know of would have asked by firing a shot across our bow."

"True sir. Our jump engines are recharging it will be another fifteen minutes before we can jump out of here."

"Understood XO."

"Sir the _Jutland_ has acknowledged that we will leave as soon as we are able to," communications reported. "They thank us for the limited information that we have provided to them but say they are not comfortable giving us information about themselves yet."

"Fair enough. Send a final message to them that on behalf of the Earth Alliance we hope to hear from them again at Babylon Five."

"Aye sir." Communications was quiet for another few moments. "The _Jutland_ acknowledges and say they will consider it."

"That's all we can ask of them," Maynard replied. "All right. Navigation move us off, as soon as the jump engines are online jump to hyperspace. Communications try and get Earth Force Command on stellarcom."

"Aye, sir," came the replies from the respective stations.

**

* * *

A Few Minutes Later**

"Are you sure they won't accept contact," General Lefcourt asked from the communications screen in Captain Maynard's office.

"Yes I am sir," Maynard replied. "They did talk to us but only via Interlac and then only to ask us to leave the system. I did give them information about Babylon Five, they have indicated that they might go there but then again they might not."

"Hmm you did the right thing complying with their wishes, the last thing we need is another war at this time," Lefcourt said. "I will alert Commander Sinclair to the possibility that he might be getting visitors sometime in the future. Now then were you able to gather any intelligence at all about the alien vessel _Jutland_?"

"Very little I'm afraid general. They appear to have a stealth device similar to the one employed by the Minbari. However we were able to gather some energy readings from the alien starship, what we found is astounding. The alien vessels power signature was putting out no less than three times as much energy as a Minbari Sharlin-class war cruiser. But I think they probably wanted us to see those power readings, a way of saying how strong they are without firing a single shot."

"Three times a Sharlin," General Fefcourt repeated in astonishment. Maynard could well understand it, a Minbari Sharlin-class war cruiser was one of the most powerful starships in space, nothing other than a Vorlon dreadnought could compare to one. To encounter a much smaller starship that was pumping out a few times the energy of a Minbari warship was amazing and also a little disturbing. If a cruiser sized ship could pump out that much power then what would a battleship scaled vessel generate.

"Incredible," the general continued. "We must hope that these Tau'ri do indeed accept the offer to go to Babylon Five. We could certainly use an ally with their apparent level of technology. I expect to see a full detailed report of your first contact with the Tau'ri vessel when you return to Earth."

"You'll have it sir," Maynard replied. General Lefcourt smiled slightly.

"Thank you captain, have a safe journey home."

"Thank you sir." General Fefcourt nodded then broke the connection from his end, his image being replaced by the seal of the Earth Alliance. Maynard sighed and went to his desk to get started on some of the paperwork he had to do, knowing full well that his XO would handle the jump to hyperspace and the plotting of the long journey through that other space to Earth orbit.

**

* * *

TFS Jutland**

**Ten Minutes Later**

Captain McKenzie watched on a tactical overlay as the _Cortez_ moved away from them at a virtual snails pace, though their sensors confirmed that she was pushing her ion particle engines to maintain her speed. Clearly not only were Human ships in this universe a lot more primitive they were also a whole lot slower, even a puddle jumper could go quicker than the _Cortez_ and they weren't really meant for long distance flight in space.

"Captain we're picking up an increase in energy emissions from the _Cortez,_" sensors reported. "There is another spatial distortion opening in front of them."

McKenzie nodded; he could see it on the long range visual scan. A vortex that was almost identical to the one they had seen earlier when the _Cortez_ arrived opened in space, the only difference was in colour, this vortex was orange instead of blue. The _Cortez_ plunged into the vortex and vanished in a bright flash, the vortex closed behind her, leaving the _Jutland_ once more alone in the system.

"About time they left," he said. "Communications: hail both Rivendell and the _Achilles_, advice Admiral Robyns and Governor Shepherd that the _Cortez_ has now left the area and it is safe for them to jump in."

"Aye, sir." McKenzie smiled and sat back in his command chair to await the arrival of the rest of the task force and the cityship that they were escorting.

**

* * *

Rivendell**

**A Few Moments Later**

Governor Alison Shepherd leaned on the guard rail of the balcony outside her office and stared at the starlit vacuum of space. She was completely unconcerned by the fact that only a thin force field that hugged the contours of every building in the city protected her from that cold airless environment. She often came out onto the balcony to think or when she just wanted some peace from her responsibilities. It was always relaxing, be it when they were on a planet or when they were in space.

"Excuse me Governor Shepherd," Arwen abruptly said from behind.

"Yes Arwen what is it," Alison asked not taking her eyes of the breathtaking view of the stars.

"We have received a transmission from the _Jutland_," Arwen replied. "Captain McKenzie says that it is now safe for us to journey to the system, the _Cortez_ has left the area. Admiral Robyns has also signalled us saying we can leave whenever we are ready." Alison smiled softly as the avatar spoke. _Finally,_ Alison thought.

"Excellent," she said standing up straight and starting to head back to Rivendell's control room. "Status report," she asked walking in, Arwen following a few paces behind not that the avatar really needed to. Like all cityship avatars Arwen was programmed to behave in that way.

"Hyperdrives are ready to go, coordinates for the planet have been locked into the navigational systems," one of the console operators reported. "We're ready to go ma'am."

"Understood. Communications hail the _Achilles_ tell Admiral Robyns that we are about to make a hyperspace jump to the _Jutland's_ location. All personnel stand by to begin landing procedures as soon as we arrive."

"Yes ma'am," came the response from a number of control consoles as an alarm sounded throughout Rivendell advising all twenty five thousand people onboard to prepare for landing procedures.

"Governor the _Achilles_ has acknowledged that we're about to jump," communications reported.

"Very well then, navigation take us to the coordinates."

"Yes ma'am."

For a few more moments nothing happened then a familiar up-scaling whine was heard throughout the whole of the vast space vessel that was the cityship, the whine of the three mighty hyperdrives that propelled it powering up. Then with a slight almost imperceptible surge of acceleration the city vanished into hyperspace, to re-emerge seconds later directly over the planet where she was to land.

"We're secure from hyperspace Governor Shepherd. City power levels are holding."

"Very good. Manoeuvre us too directly over the centre of the inland sea the _Jutland_ found and commence landing procedure."

"Yes ma'am."

**

* * *

TFS Jutland**

Captain McKenzie smiled when he saw a massive hyperspace window open above the planet and disgorge the beautiful snowflake like shape of Rivendell. The window closed immediately and Rivendell began to move with easy grace even as another large hyperspace window opened and the rest of the task force with the _Achilles_ in the lead arrived in the system.

"Captain we're receiving a hail from the _Achilles_," communications reported. "It's Admiral Robyns."

"Put him through," McKenzie ordered. Instantly the view screen changed to show the head and shoulders of Admiral Robyns sitting proudly on the flag bridge of the mighty Proteus-class dreadnought. "Yes sir what can I do for you?"

"Nothing captain. I just wanted to tell you and your crew that you have done very well indeed," Admiral Robyns replied. "You carried out your mission perfectly and handled the unexpected first contact with the _Cortez_ very well indeed."

"On behalf of all of us sir thank you," McKenzie replied with a smile and feeling a little warm inside. It wasn't everyday after all that a full admiral like Jacob Robyns gave complements like that.

"As soon as Rivendell has safely landed on the planet captain I would like you to transport over to this ship and report directly to me," Robyns said. "I will be debriefing you myself."

"I'll be there sir," McKenzie replied slightly nervous at the prospect of being face to face with Admiral Robyns. It wasn't a common occurrence for a cruiser captain to meet and admiral face to face let alone be debriefed by one. It was very different to the normal all force meetings that took place between ship commanders in the _Achilles_ war room. Something must have shown in his expression for Admiral Robyns laughed.

"Relax captain I don't bite," he said. "Often."

"I'll bare that in mind sir." Robyns smiled before nodding to someone not directly in line with the video pickups and the communications link with the _Achilles_ closed down. The visual of Rivendell returned, just in time to see the cityship settling into orbit above the southern continents inland sea. _And now the fun begins,_ McKenzie thought with a smile knowing they were all going to be soon treated to the rare sight of seeing a cityship land on a planet.

**

* * *

Rivendell**

"Governor we are now in geosynchronous orbit above the southern continents inland sea," navigation reported.

"Very good. All power to inertial dampeners, antigrav thrusters and shields. Begin landing procedure."

"Yes ma'am. Beginning landing procedure."

On the surface of the city small panels opened and the landing thrusters fired and the city began to move down out of orbit. Within moments the lowermost point of the cities shields made contact with the upper atmosphere of the planet. The tenuous upper atmosphere ions began disintegrating where they encountered the powerful spherical shield surrounding the city, making the shield glow softly.

The glow increased as the city plunged deeper into the atmosphere and it got thicker and thicker around her. Glowing streams of superheated gasses raced across the shield spreading across the whole lower hemisphere of the shield even as more and more atmospheric atoms were annihilated on contact with the energy barrier. To anyone watching it from the ground it would have seemed like a meteor was streaking towards them, trailing flames as the plasma sheath grew hotter and hotter, putting more and more stress on the city shields. Shields that shrugged off the intense heat produced by the superheated atmospheric ions as if it was nothing.

Still the city descended and the plasma sheath began to evaporate as it entered ever thicker air, a shockwave of supersonic wind blasted through the atmosphere for hundreds of miles around the descending spacecraft. Wind that tore apart local weather patterns, blowing the tenuous clouds and even the odd thunderhead cloud apart as if they were nothing. Surface winds were whipped into a frenzy sending local animals running in instinctual panic, not understanding or even comprehending what was really happening.

When barely a mile remained between the descending city and the ground Rivendell decelerated sharply coming to a hover over the surface of the inland sea. A sea that had been whipped into a stormy frenzy by the winds generated by its descent through the atmosphere. Giant ripples abruptly replaced the stormy waves as the downward force of the cities ventral antigrav thrusters disrupted the wave patterns producing the same effect that stones dropped in water would.

With a soft flash the ventral shields of the city deactivated leaving only a very thin force field around the metal skin of the city. Then with the grace of a descending snowflake in a gentle flurry the city once more began to descend. A splash erupted as the largest of the cities underside, utility towers touched the water, or rather the force field that sheathed it did. Additional splashes erupted, culminating in a final massive splash as the underside of the cities piers hit the water.

Engines shut down and the force fields and main shields around the city deactivated and throughout its vastness a down-scaling humming sound could be heard as the propulsion and inertial dampening systems powered down.

Rivendell was down.


	5. Chapter 4

**Stargate: Thirdspace**

**Chapter Four**

**Asgard Vessel General O'Neill**

**Asgard Space, Two Days Later**

Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, gazed around the command centre of his new flagship with approval. The _General O'Neill_ was only the second ship of her class, a Hammond-class command dreadnought, bigger and more powerful than the O'Neill-class battlecruisers that had served his people so well for the last few centuries. Similar in appearance to an O'Neill this new ship incorporated all the latest in technology including some Ancient technological elements shared with the Asgard by their Tau'ri allies.

Thor was very proud of these new ships; they were a testament to the reinvigoration the Asgard race had experienced over the last few centuries. Ever since the answer to the genetic degradation problems with their cloning technology had been found in Atlantis vast database, the Asgard had been working tirelessly to rebuild their galaxy and the empire they had almost lost to the Replicators. Now finally after centuries of tireless work that reconstruction was at last was completed and the Asgard race was once more growing in number as their new clones could actually reproduce. They were showing to the universe that they were once more one of the five great races that this part of the universe had produced. Races that included the Ancients or the Alterans to use their proper name and their Tau'ri second evolution.

Thor stiffened suddenly as he felt a presence touch his mind. _Thor,_ a soft voice said into his head, a voice he hadn't heard in along time. _Thor we need to talk, come to your chambers,_ the voice continued, and this time Thor placed it and felt surprise ripple through his body. Though surprised he was also concerned and immediately used the ships internal transporters to move himself to his personal chambers.

To find Daniel Jackson waiting there for him, leaning against the wall, looking as he had looked as a young man all those centuries ago. There was nothing to immediately give away that he wasn't really here, at least not in a corporeal sense, he hadn't had a corporeal body for a few centuries now. Not since he had once again ascended at the natural end of his life.

"Daniel Jackson this a pleasant surprise," Thor said in greeting even as he sat down in his chair.

"It is good to see you again, Thor," Daniel replied standing up straight. "Unfortunately this isn't a social call."

"I suspected as much," Thor answered, slipping into the fashion of talking to a Tau'ri – even an ascended one – with practiced ease. "What can we do for you?"

"You are aware that a cityship with escorts was sent to dark matter galaxy a few weeks ago?"

"I am aware of Rivendell's mission yes," Thor replied. "As far as I am aware there has been no contact from them since."

"That is correct. As a matter of fact a fleet of warships is to be sent to that galaxy soon to investigate what happened to them. We would like you to accompany them." Had he had eyebrows Thor's would have shot up in surprise at that, it was incredibly rare for the ascended Alterans to ask anything from their old Asgard allies. In fact as far as Thor could recall it was unprecedented.

"May I ask why?"

"You can. Something occurred in that dark matter galaxy that for a moment in time shattered subspace," Daniel replied. "We have been too busy repairing the damage to the very fabric of the universe it caused to investigate what caused the disruption, all we know is it originated at the same general coordinates that Rivendell was aiming for."

"You want us to investigate what caused it?"

"If you can yes. If subspace was shattered there once it could potentially happen again. If it happens again then the damage it could do to the fabric of the universe could be even worse." Daniel replied. "We need to know if it was a one off occurrence or if it's going to happen again, we must not let it happen again. The universe is a fragile balance of different forces it cannot withstand many major disruptions like that. If too many occurred then the consequences could be disastrous."

"It is that serious?"

"Yes, Thor it is. It could cause a rupture in the very fabric of the universe and not even the others know what that would do, all we know is it would not be good."

"I see. Very well I will speak with the High Council immediately," Thor replied. "As soon as they are informed of the potential seriousness of the situation I have no doubt they will release ships to investigate the cause of this shattering of subspace that you speak of."

Daniel smiled. "Thank you, Thor," he said. "I will let the others know. One more thing, when you go to that galaxy please be careful. I sense a malevolence there, a darkness greater than anything I have ever felt, watch yourselves when you go there."

"I will," Thor replied, feeling a chill go down his spine at that. He didn't like the sound of that at all. "I will keep an eye on the Tau'ri, even though they are more than capable of looking after themselves these days."

"That's all I can ask, Thor. Thank you," Daniel said his voice turning ethereal as he began to glow. In moments he had become nothing more than a glowing tentacled mass of pure energy and light. For a moment more he remained there then faded away as if he had never been present at all.

Thor sat there in his chair looking at the place where his old friend had been, mentally going over what Daniel had told him. Then he pressed a control on the sides of his chair, opening a communications link to the bridge.

"Connect me to the High Council immediately," he ordered. "I must speak with them about a matter of the utmost urgency."

"Yes, commander. Please stand by."

**

* * *

Starbase 232**

**Makora System, Tau'ri Federation**

**Three Days Later**

Admiral Helena Hawkins materialised aboard Starbase 232 with a puzzled frown on her face. She had been on board her flagship, the _Repulse_, preparing her fleet for a potentially extended deployment away from Tau'ri space. Her fleet the 4th Fleet was being sent to the recently discovered dark matter galaxy that Rivendell had been heading for to investigate what had happened to the cityship. There had been no response to any attempts to contact Rivendell or any of her escorts, even the _Achilles_ remained as silent as a ghost.

The ominous silence had both the Council and Defence Force Command very worried; they had decided to send a full blown battle fleet to investigate what had happened. Helena had just finished a major meeting with her fleet commanders when they had been hailed; Admiral Mitchell was requesting her presence over here on the space station on an undisclosed but urgent manner.

_I wonder what this is about,_ Helena thought as she made her way through the corridors of the space station towards Admiral Mitchell's office. Having been to Starbase 232 on many occasions in the past she knew the way like the back of her hand. As she walked Helena thought about her mission, and what could explain the terrifying silence on subspace communication bands. It was possible that the colony fleet was intact and just couldn't get in contact with them through some form of interference, that had been known to happen under certain conditions and there were still so many unknowns about dark matter. Equally the fleet could have met tragedy, encountering some kind of interstellar calamity that had destroyed them, equally they could have been attacked by an unknown race and either destroyed of captured.

Of all the possibilities Helena hoped that it was not going to be the last one, if Rivendell had been destroyed or captured then she knew it could lead to war. In total there had been nearly thirty five thousand people in that task force between Rivendell and the starship crews, the Council would not let such a massacre go unpunished. The entire Federation would be enraged making war inevitable. Like many in the Defence Force Helena didn't want there to be a war, she knew just how terribly powerful modern weapons were, but she would not be afraid of it if it came.

With effort Helena shook off her increasingly dark thoughts as she arrived at Admiral Mitchell's office, or rather the small antechamber before the office. The young lieutenant on duty there looked up at the sound of her footsteps on the deck.

"**Can we help you, admiral," **the lieutenant asked in a deep, distorted voice that indicated that a symbiote was speaking. Helena immediately knew the lieutenant would have to be a Tok'ra; the Goa'uld no longer existed after all having been exterminated centuries ago though the Tok'ra numbers were growing, especially since the young Queen Terayac had defected to them from the Goa'uld. Bringing with her the knowledge that had finally exterminated what had remained of the System Lords. Still hearing the distorted voice creeped Helena out a bit, though she was used to dealing with Tok'ra as there were several on the _Repulse,_ one being her chief engineer.

"Yes, I'm here to see Admiral Mitchell. He sent for me," Helena replied.

"Admiral Hawkins," the lieutenant asked in a normal voice this time as the host spoke. Helena nodded. The lieutenant smiled. "Go on in their waiting for you."

"Thank you," Helena replied easing past the desk and going to the office door, before disappearing inside. The lieutenant watched her go, before inwardly speaking to his symbiote.

"_You really shouldn't do that Seresh,"_ he said.

"**_Oh come on, Jason. What's the harm in me speaking from time to time,"_ **Seresh replied. "**_I do have opinions and feelings. Its not my fault people get uncomfortable hearing me, people should be a bit more open minded."_**

"_You can't blame them really, given that beings similar to you dominated this galaxy like an evil plague for thousand of years. It's going to spawn bad memories that will take a very long time to fade."_ A soft resigned sigh filtered through Jason's mind.

"**_I guess your right. I'm sorry you're my first host and we've only been bonded for a few years, I'm still not used to the fact that other humans – outside your family – sometimes get uncomfortable with me. I just wish things were easier and I could talk more often without creeping others out."_**

"_I know, Seresh. I know,"_ Jason replied before returning to his duties as Admiral Mitchell's adjutant.

* * *

Helena Hawkins stepped into Admiral Jordan Mitchell's office and immediately got a surprise. She wasn't surprised to see Admiral Mitchell's waiting for her but she was surprised to see that there was an Asgard in the room with him. An Asgard that she recognised as being Odin the Asgard ambassador to Earth, the fact that he was out here on this station, twenty thousand light years from Earth, was very surprising.

"Ah Admiral Hawkins welcome," Mitchell said noticing her. "Please be seated. I am sure you are wondering why I sent for you."

"The thought had crossed my mind, sir," Helena replied as she sat down. Though they had the same rank, Mitchell was her direct superior as he was in charge of all fleet activity in this quadrant.

"I asked to see you because your mission is far more critical than you realise," Mitchell replied. "You will have some additional reinforcements besides your own ships; an Asgard fleet under Supreme Commander Thor will be arriving here soon to join you." Helena blinked startled, it was highly unusual for the Asgard to send large fleets anywhere, even though their numbers were growing and they were no longer faced with the possibility of extinction.

"May I ask what is going on, sir?"

"Ambassador Odin can explain," Mitchell replied, gesturing to Odin. Odin inclined his head in acknowledgement.

"Greetings Admiral Hawkins," Odin said in greeting.

"Ambassador," Helena replied politely. "What's this about?"

"A matter of the gravest urgency," Odin reported. "Three of your days ago Supreme Commander Thor was contacted by Daniel Jackson representing the ascended Ancients."

Helena's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Why would the ascended form of Daniel Jackson go and see Thor? It definitely wouldn't be for a touch of nostalgic conversation. It had to be related to where here fleet was going, but why? Were the Ancients going to be getting involved with the search? If they were then what was going on? What was so important that they were willing to break their own rules about interference with lower planes of existence? Was it related to Rivendell's ominous silence? The questions echoed through her mind. She looked carefully at Odin, hoping that the Asgard would have the answers to her questions.

"Please continue," Helena said. Odin inclined his head slightly.

"So that you may understand the seriousness of the situation I will now show the recording taken aboard Thor's new flagship," Odin said manipulating the controls built into the sides of his Asgard style chair, which had established a remote link with the stations main computer.

The lights in the room dimmed slightly and a holographic screen coalesced into existence over the desk that they were all sat around. Helena focused her attention on the screen which showed an unfamiliar chamber on what was clearly an Asgard vessel, the décor and style of construction made that obvious. In the room were Thor sitting in a chair and a man that Helena recognised from history files as being Daniel Jackson stood nearby, clad in the white clothing that ascended beings favoured when dealing with lower planes of existence.

Helena listened intently and with growing concern as Daniel and Thor conversed about subspace shattering and threats to the very fabric of the universe. Though she didn't understand what he meant by the universe being a delicate balance of forces that could be threatened by this possible rupture, she could tell Daniel was very worried by it, reflecting the fears of the Ancients themselves. Anything that could worry the Ancients so much that they would take the unprecedented step of directly asking the Asgard for assistance was a cause of immense concern.

Her concern only grew when she heard Daniel's veiled warning to Thor. The words about a dark, malevolence being present in the galaxy Rivendell had been sent to filled her with profound apprehension. It made it all the more apparent to Helena that they needed to determine Rivendell's fate, especially if it was somehow linked to the brief shattering of subspace Daniel had spoken of.

On the holographic screen Helena observed Daniel revert to the energy state that was now his natural form before fading away. Then the recording ended and the hologram evaporated into nothingness and the illumination in the office returned to full strength. For a few moments there was silence in the office as everyone digested to contents of the recording, though both Odin and Mitchell had seen it before.

"Well, admiral what's your impression," Mitchell said at last breaking the silence.

Helena considered for a few moments before answering. "Worrying sir," she said. "Anything that has the Ancients so worried that they would make such an unprecedented request is a cause for immense concern. I can't help wondering though if this subspace shattering that Daniel spoke of is related to Rivendell's lack of communication."

"That possibility has occurred to command," Mitchell agreed. "I did so as soon as soon as the Asgard first showed us this recording. It is imperative that we find out what happened to Rivendell and what caused this subspace shattering."

"Since our goals are almost identical," Odin added. "We agreed that this mission should be a joint one. The fleet we have assembled will depart orbit of Orilla and arrive here within the hour."

"Can the fourth fleet be ready to depart in that time," Mitchell asked. Helena considered for a few moments.

"Yes, sir we can. All supplies have already been loaded aboard and all ships are fully operational. We're just waiting for the last group of crew to come back from leave on the planet this station orbits. They should be transporting up in the next twenty minutes or so."

"Excellent," Mitchell replied.

"Once the Asgard ships arrive and have formed up we can leave," Helena added.

"Excellent. Well I am sure you would like to get back to the _Repulse_ and see to the fleet's final preparations," Mitchell said.

"Yes, sir," Helena replied, realising that the meeting was over. Admiral Mitchell smiled.

"I will see that amended orders are sent to your ship, to reflect the joint mission. You are dismissed, Admiral," Mitchell answered. "Good luck on your mission."

"Thank you, sir," Helena acknowledged with a smile before standing up, she gave a polite nod to the Asgard ambassador then left the room to go to a section where she could transport back to the _Repulse,_ a section outside the range of the transporter beam suppressor field that covered the vital facilities in the stations core.

As she walked Helena was once again lost in thought, thinking about what she had just learned. _Whatever is going on in that dark matter galaxy I'll get to the bottom of it,_ she thought, _I have to._

**

* * *

TFS Repulse**

**A Short Time Later**

Admiral Helena Hawkins sat in her ready room and smiled as she read the last system status report that had just been delivered to her. Finally everything was ready, the last of the crewmen had returned from the planet and every system on the five hundred Tau'ri or Tau'ri allied ships of her fleet was ready to go. _Excellent,_ she thought, _as soon as the Asgard fleet arrives we'll be able to get underway._

The soft chime of the desk intercom startled her and Helena reached out and pressed the offending device. "Yes," she asked. A holographic screen appeared in the air in front of her showing the face and torso of her flagships commanding officer, Captain Timothy Baker.

"Sorry to disturb you, admiral," Tim said. "But our long range scanners have picked up the Asgard fleet approaching. They should be dropping out of hyperspace in the next few minutes."

"I see. Thank you, captain," Helena replied. "Signal the fleet to break orbit and form up. As soon as the Asgard fleet arrives they will be joining formation with us. Then we can get underway. I'll be on the flag bridge shortly."

"Aye, ma'am," Tim replied. Helena pressed a button on her intercom control panel and the holographic screen vanished. Helena smiled softly and stood up, it was almost time to get this show on the road, and she could feel excitement stirring in hair veins. She couldn't help but feel it though she knew they would be flying into a potentially very dangerous and unknown situation. _I just hope things are not as bad as everyone fears,_ she thought as she left her quarters for the _Repulse_ flag bridge.

* * *

It took only a few moments for Helena to reach the flag bridge from her ready room, the two marines at the entrance snapped to attention as she entered. Helena nodded to them politely and moved to her command chair.

"What's the position of the Asgard fleet now," Helena asked as she sat down.

"The Asgard fleet has just entered the system, ma'am," Ensign Stewart at sensors reported. "They will be dropping from hyperspace in approximately thirty seconds."

"Show me," Helena ordered, looking at the high resolution screens at the front of the flag bridge. The screens came on immediately and showed a normal star field, veiled here and there by ribbons of multicoloured nebula gasses.

For a moment the star field remained unchanging, eternal as it always did. Then a hyperspace window burst into existence, spilling light and energy into normal space, a moment before it disgorged the Asgard fleet. A fleet that while much smaller than the one Helena commanded was still a source of awe and respect, for it was a fleet whose strength and power was undoubted, a fleet who could strike terror into the hearts of anyone foolish enough to make an enemy out of the mighty Asgard.

The fleet consisted of forty O'Neill-class battlecruisers each escorted by two Jackson-class destroyers, which were powerful warships in their own rights though they lacked the firepower of the bigger O'Neill's. But it was the ship leading the Asgard fleet that really caught Helena's attention, it was almost twice the size of the O'Neill battlecruisers and while the design was similar they were a great many subtle differences in the design. The power readings the ship was producing were much higher than what was regularly attributed to Asgard vessels and Helena knew that that meant the ship wasn't being powered by the Asgard normal neutron ion generators, though it would have them. Instead it was being powered by the zero point module technology her people had shared with the Asgard.

It took Helena only a few moments to recognise the vessel as one of the Asgards new Hammond-class command dreadnoughts. Hovering close to the dreadnought in escort positions were another four Jackson-class ships, which were utterly dwarfed by the new vessel. She had been briefed on the Hammond-class but hadn't really appreciated them until now when she actually saw one, though it was still smaller than her own Rampart-class super dreadnought it was a very impressive ship.

"Admiral the Asgard flagship is hailing us," Lieutenant Taylor reported from the communications station.

"Put them through," Helena replied, already knowing who the Asgard ships commander would be.

"Aye ma'am," Taylor responded and mentally ordered his console to put the signal onto the main screens.

Immediately the few of the intimidating wall of Asgard warships vanished to replaced by the face of an Asgard sitting in one of their distinctive chairs, backdropped by the glowing column of energy that was the distinctive feature of an Asgard bridge. The Asgard was immediately familiar to everyone on the flag bridge; most Tau'ri would recognise him though few had ever actually met him in person.

"Greetings I am Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet," Thor said. "Are you Admiral Hawkins?"

"Yes, Thor I am," Helena replied. "A pleasure to meet you at last."

"Likewise, admiral. My sensors show that your ships are fully prepared to begin the journey to the dark matter galaxy," Thor answered.

"Yes, Thor we are. Since we are both ready to depart then I suggest we form up without delay and get underway," Helena said. "Given the gravity of the situation we cannot afford to sit around wasting time."

"Indeed you are correct," Thor replied, not sounding surprised that she knew the true gravity of the situation. Thor had been informed by the High Council that Ambassador Odin would show the security recording of his conversation with Daniel Jackson to the admiral who would command the Tau'ri fleet. "Let us form up and get underway," Thor continued. "Once that has been done we can begin detailed planning for the mission."

"Agreed. I will contact you as soon as we are underway, Thor." Thor nodded in agreement and broke the connection from his end. The view of the Asgard fleet returned, only now the wall of ships was breaking up as the Asgard vessels moved to join the formation established by the mixture of Tau'ri and Jaffa warships that made up the forth fleet.

"Admiral the Asgard ships are moving to join formation with us," Ensign Stewart reported, though he knew it was unnecessary, but protocol demanded it.

"Thank you, ensign," Helena answered acknowledging the report, even as she leaned back in her chair to wait for formation to be established so they could leave this system and get the mission underway.

**

* * *

Observation Deck**

**Starbase 232**

**A Short Time Later**

Admiral Jordan Mitchell stood besides Odin looking out through the huge transparent window that made up one wall of the room, at the assemble fleet. Combined the 4th fleet and Thor's fleet was truly a sight to behold, their gleaming marshal strength representing power on a scale that few forces in this part of the universe could match. _Any moment now they will jump to hyperspace,_ he thought waiting patiently. The spectacle of seeing six hundred and twenty five warships all jumping into hyperspace together was a rare sight indeed.

Finally after a few more moments the waiting game was over. A massive hyperspace window burst into existence ahead of the assembled ships as they combined the subspace fields generated by their hyperdrives. For a moment more nothing happened, then the first wave of ships surged forward, seemed to stretch before disappearing into the window. The second wave followed them into hyperspace immediately. In the space of less than one and a half minutes the whole fleet vanished into hyperspace and the window folded closed, vanishing as if it had never been.

Admiral Mitchell continued to watch the place where the ships had disappeared from normal space for a few moments.

"Do you think they will find the answers to what is going on in that galaxy, Odin," he asked the Asgard ambassador. "What's happened to Rivendell and if it's related to this subspace shattering Daniel spoke of."

"We have to hope that they can, admiral," Odin replied. "Though my peoples understanding of subspace and the structure of the universe is not as advanced as the Ancients, our scientists have confirmed that large scale subspace shattering would be an incredibly dangerous and destructive phenomenon."

Mitchell nodded. "We checked the database in Atlantis for information on subspace shattering," he said. "There wasn't much information there but it did give frightening accounts of occasions when the Alterans encountered similar destructive subspace phenomena."

"We are aware of some of them," Odin agreed, inwardly shivering as he recalled reading those files, they had been included with the message from the High Council. "The only thing we can do, admiral is wait. Wait and hope that the crews of those ships can find us some answers. Unfortunately I cannot stay here to wait for those answers to come; I must return to Earth immediately, there are diplomatic matters that require my attention."

"Of course," Mitchell replied. "I'll arrange for you to be transported down to the Stargate on the planet below."

Odin inclined his head slightly. "Thank you, admiral."

Mitchell took a long last look out the viewport at the space where the fleets hyperspace window had been. _Good luck out there,_ he thought to the departed ships, wishing they could hear him. He had a feeling that they were going to need all the luck they could get. Then he turned around and left, leaving Odin alone gazing out at the stars while he waited to be transported down to the planet for his return to Earth.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**Bridge**

**TFS Jutland**

**Two Days Later**

Captain Aaron McKenzie resisted the impulse to sigh and tap his fingers impatiently on the edges of the command chair for something to do. For the last six hours they had been sat here in space, ten light years out from the planet that Rivendell had landed on nearly three weeks ago now. Six hours of boredom protecting the _Skylark_ one of the small cargo ship sized support ships, which had been docked with Rivendell when they had been exiled to this other universe, while its crew carefully deployed a long range, automated sensor buoy in almost the fragments of ice, rock and dust that made up the rings of this systems only gas giant.

Though this system was still well within range of the city ships long range sensors the decision had been made to site a sensor buoy here, mostly to monitor the activity of a strange device that had been detected in this system. The device was strange looking, four pylons arranged in a diamond shape and wider at one end so it was almost like a cone. Each pylon was lined with small solar panels and was made of an unknown metallic alloy. An alloy that matched the alloys used in the construction of the one Human ship they had encountered in this universe. It had clearly been constructed recently, presumably by the _Cortez_ but no one was able to determine the device's purpose. Though Aaron was willing to bet it had something to do with the strange FTL technology that the _Cortez_ had used.

Placing his hand on a specific part of the chair arm, Aaron sent a mental command to the ships main computer and a holographic screen blinked into existence in front of him. A screen showing the results of their latest sensor scan of the object. The device was being powered by a series of small fusion power generators along the pylons, sensors had revealed that the core of each pylon was a massive plasma conduit into with the generators fed their plasma in an endless energising loop system. Arranged along the central conduit were rings of a material that they couldn't identify, a few grams of the material extracted by a precision transport were currently in the _Jutland's _laboratory section being analysed. Preliminary analysis indicated that it was highly refined substance with a molecular structure similar to naquada but very different at the same time. The final curious feature of the device was the presence of a tachyon transponder that was broadcasting a constant stream of tachyon particles into a very deep subspace layer. The purpose of the tachyon stream was unknown. _What is this thing,_ Aaron wondered, _is it this universe's equivalent of a Stargate? If it is why is it broadcasting a tachyon stream so deep into subspace?_

At that moment the communications station chimed softly for attention. "Sir, we're receiving a message from the _Skylark_," communications reported. "There reporting that the sensor buoy is in place and diagnostics indicate that it is fully operational. The _Skylark_ reports they will be rising out of the rings shortly."

"Excellent," Aaron replied. "Give the _Skylark's_ captain my complements and inform her that we will be ready to leave as soon as they are."

"Aye, sir."

Aaron smiled and dismissed the holographic screen and the data on the unknown device. Whatever it turned out to be he had no doubt that the scientists on Rivendell would unlock its secrets. He was pleased as well to hear that the _Skylark_ was done with her task and that they would soon be returning to the planet that was going to be there home for the duration of their stay in this universe, however long that was.

Which at the moment looked like it was going to be a good long while as Arwen and the scientists on Rivendell were still trying to figure out how they'd been blasted across universes in the first place. So far all they knew was it had been some freakish interaction between the powerful antiproton plasma blasts fired by those extremely hostile unknown alien inhabitants of the dark matter galaxy and the hyperspace window. But the exact mechanics of what happened were unknown at this time, and sensor logs had only revealed very limited amounts of information. Certainly nothing that showed any sign of giving them a clue as to how to get back to their proper place and time.

At that moment the sensors came to life, chirping and giving almost musical chimes for attention. Aaron turned the command chair in the centre of the bridge to look at the sensor station as the lieutenant on duty worked through a combination of physical taps on some of the controls and mental commands to the system to find out what had tripped the sensors. From the tone of the sensor alert Aaron knew the sensors had picked up a sharp rise in energy emissions somewhere close by.

"Report," he ordered.

"Energy surge from the artefact, sir," the lieutenant reported.

"Show me," Aaron ordered turning to look at the high resolution screen at the front of the bridge, screens that gave them a virtual floor to ceiling window out on space, when they were really located deep within the armoured core of the cruiser. The image on the screen changed abruptly to show the unknown structure.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen then a pulse of light discharged down the length of each of the four pylons from the wider spaced end to the shorter gap at the other side. At the end of the pylon the pulses discharged, merging together with a brilliant flash of energy. An energy flash that grew outwards into the same blue glowing vortex that the _Cortez_ had first emerged from. The dark centre of the vortex flashed brightly then a ship emerged from the vortex, coming back into normal space.

An alien ship.

The alien ship was strangely organic looking in design, with a design that seemed to combine elements of a sperm whale with a manta ray. The central, main body of the alien vessel resembled the body of a sperm whale, especially given the fact that the ship appeared to be bigger at the front than at the very back. From about a third of the way along the ships length extended a pair of long gently curving wings that seemed to extend several hundred metres to a point, before curving back and gently merging into the rear of the ship about a hundred meters from the tail. The hull was a greyish blue colour and seemed to shimmer slightly; in a regular pattern on the ship were strange groves and openings whose purpose could only be guessed at. The ship seemed to have no visible means of propulsion, which probably meant it was equipped with a gravitic drive system of some kind.

"Tactical analysis," Aaron asked studying the alien vessel as it glided towards them, coming to a stop a polite hundred kilometres away from them. Even from here he could see that the alien starship was considerably bigger than his own ship and the design was distinctly alien but appealing in the same sense that Asgard warships were lovely ships to look at. Looking at her he got the distinct impression that she was a warship, the pattern of grooves and openings made the obvious though what the ships weapons were he had no idea.

"Alien vessel is two kilometres long sir," sensors reported. "It's definitely a warship; we're picking up the signatures of missile launchers, particle cannons and some sort of fusion blasters. Weapons systems are not active. The hull is heavily armoured by a bio-metallic alloy that our sensors cannot identify. The ship is putting out considerably more power than what the _Cortez_ was generating; it appears to be coming from a highly focused localised gravity well deep within the ship."

Aaron frowned slightly. "A highly focused localised gravity well," he repeated, he had never heard of such a thing inside a starship before and he had seen a few alien vessels in his time both in their own galaxy and beyond. "What do you think it is?"

"From these readings sir I believe it to be an artificial quantum singularity, its giving off all the characteristic readings of a singularity but on a much smaller scale." sensors reported.

Aaron's eyebrows shot up in surprise. An artificial quantum singularity being used as a power source, that was unusual to say the least, from what he understood of the theory such a power system would provide large amounts of energy. Not that anyone in the Tau'ri Federation had ever really researched it other than as a scientific curiosity. Zero Point Modules provided them with more than enough power, and ZPM's were a lot more stable – not to mention very user friendly in that you could just carry them around and they just plugged in – than a quantum singularity power source would be. ZPM's also provided much more power output than a quantum singularity would, with none of the risks.

The sensors abruptly bleeped. "Sir the alien ship is scanning us, scanners are partially penetrating our passive stealth systems," sensors reported. "Far more than the sensors of the _Cortez_ did."

"That ship is more advanced than the _Cortez,_" Aaron pointed out mildly concerned. "How bad is the penetration?"

"About forty-percent more penetration than the _Cortez_ was allowed," sensors answered. "However the sensor beams are not penetrating the hull."

"They can still get a look at our energy profile," Aaron said. "Communications, prepare to send a first contact package to the alien starship, use the same bandwidth and frequency as we did with the _Cortez_."

"Aye, sir."

"Alien scanner beams have stopped sir," sensors reported. "I'm reading distortions in the gravitic drive field. Looks like their preparing to turn away."

"First contact package ready, sir," communications added.

"Transmit," Aaron ordered.

"Transmitting now, the alien ship is accepting the package but is not responding."

"Alien vessel turning," sensors added, "their turning back towards the unknown object, drive power is increasing."

"They wanted a look but they don't want to talk," Aaron mused thoughtfully, wondering what was going on here, the behaviour of the alien vessel was unusual in his experience, but then they were aliens who knew how they thought. "Communications try sending a message in the language that the _Cortez_ talked to us in, Interlac. Tell them 'this is the Tau'ri cruiser _Jutland_, identify yourselves and state your intentions.'"

"Aye, sir," communications responded immediately and sent a mental command to his console to do just that. For a moment more nothing happened then the console chimed softly, reporting audibly and via the mental interface of a change. "We're getting a response in Interlac, audio only, translating to standard now."

For a moment nothing happened then the hidden speakers crackled softly and a deep voice with a strange purring sound to it spoke. "We mean no harm, we are the Yolu, we will meet again soon," the voice said before going quite.

"Transmissions ended sir," communications reported. "Yolu vessel is now directing a tachyon beam at the artefact."

"Energy spike from the object," sensors reported.

Aaron nodded he could see it himself, the pulses of energy travelling down the pylons again before discharging, merging together and giving birth to a glowing vortex. Interestingly as with the _Cortez_ when she'd left the vortex was orange coloured instead of blue. _Interesting,_ Aaron thought as the Yolu cruiser crossed into the vortex and vanished from normal space, _does the different colour indicate a difference in the function of the vortex?_ He was brought out of his contemplation by the sound of the communications console chiming again.

"Message from the _Skylark_, sir," communications reported. "They're clear of the planets rings and are ready to return to Rivendell at our convenience."

"Excellent. Tell the _Skylark_ to rendezvous with us immediately. Navigation program a course for Rivendell."

"Aye, sir," came the replies from the officers at the respective stations. Aaron quietly sighed to himself and leaned back in his command chair as far as it would allow him to, contemplating how his report of the encounter with the Yolu warship would be received by Admiral Robyns and Governor Shepherd. He got the distinct impression that it was going to change everything about their policy in this universe.

* * *

**Earth Dome**

**Earth Alliance, That Same Time**

Retired Earth Alliance president Elizabeth Levy was confused to find herself back in Earth Dome, five and a half years since she had finally stood down after leading her world through the Minbari War and the first part of its aftermath. It had been a hard time after the war, as the wounded Alliance slowly picked itself up and rebuilt its shattered fleet, and adjusted to the reality that they were not the unstoppable superpower that they had believed themselves to be before the war had begun. She had been glad to hand over the reigns of power to her successor and current president Luis Santiago, yet her she was back in Earth Dome at Luis request.

As she followed a guard down the corridors and hallways of Earth Dome towards the president's office – though she knew the way off by heart – she tried to come up with reasons why Luis wanted to see her in person. Normally if he wanted her opinion on something, or just wanted to talk to someone who understood the tremendous burden of being president of Earth, he would just give her a call. It was unprecedented in her experience for him to ask her to physically come to Earth Dome. Try as she might she couldn't come up with a reason for this summons.

She didn't have to think about it any longer as they arrived outside the double doors to the president's office. The guard escorting her knocked politely on the doors then opened them, and Elizabeth gazed on an office that had barely changed from her time as president. There were of course some differences, a few potted plants that hadn't been here before, personal mementoes and photos of Santiago's family, but other than that the room was the same. Stepping back into it Elizabeth almost felt like she was stepping back in time to when this had been her office. After a moment she noticed that she wasn't the only one in the office, Luis was here of course, sitting in the presidents chair on the other side of the desk. General Lefcourt was also present in the room and nodded politely to her as she arrived.

"Ah Elizabeth good," Luis said getting up from his chair and coming around to greet her, hand extended. "Welcome, or should I say welcome back. It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Elizabeth replied as she shook her old friend's hand. "Your looking well I see."

"As are you, please take a seat," Luis answered letting go of her hand and moving back to his seat behind the desk. Elizabeth for her part settled down in the seat next to the one General Lefcourt was sat in.

"Hello ma'am, it's a pleasure to see you again," Lefcourt said in greeting to his former commander-in-chief. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, he considered her to have been one of the best presidents Earth had had in a good long while, she had led them well through the Minbari War – remaining strong when many other politicians had surrendered to despair at the prospect of Earth's defeat and annihilation – and those first few turbulent years in its aftermath. It had been a shame for Earth when she had stood down having served out the two terms allowed for a president under the constitution. Thankfully she had been succeeded by an equally good president, even if the current vice president was a pain in the arse.

"Likewise, general. How is your wife? I heard she was ill," Elizabeth answered.

"She's doing fine," Lefcourt replied with a smile. "She's recovering nicely from this year's flu virus."

"I'm glad to hear that. Now then gentlemen will you be so kind as to tell me why I've been asked here."

Luis smiled. "That's one thing I always liked about you, Elizabeth. You don't pull any punches," he said. "The reason I've asked for you to come here is I have a favour to ask you. I need you to come out of retirement briefly and go on an urgent diplomatic mission for me. Now that David Sheridan has retired for health reasons you're the best person I can think of for it."

"I see," Elizabeth replied, feeling a slight thrill. Diplomacy had been her first love before she'd entered politics. She'd negotiated a number of the trade deals between Earth and the League worlds in the years after the Dilgar War, before going into politics and becoming first a senator then president. The thought of coming out of retirement to be part of a major diplomatic mission was an exciting one. "Assuming I agree to do this, what is the mission," she asked.

"I need you to try and establish diplomatic relations with a newly discovered spacefaring race," Luis answered. "General Lefcourt will explain the details."

Lefcourt nodded and took up the narrative. "Three weeks ago the explorer ship _Cortez_ commanded by Captain Jack Maynard arrived in the system designated NL-24, the last stop in her most recent deep range exploration missions," he said. "Immediately upon their arrival they encountered this ship." Taking a small remote device from a pocket of his uniform he pressed a button. The lights in the room dimmed and the window blinds closed, a moment before a hologram of a ship coalesced into existence over the president's desk.

Elizabeth leaned forward and examined the holographic image; the hologram was blurred and indistinct, as if the optical scanners of the _Cortez_ had had difficulty locking onto it. But she could make out enough details to see that the ship was clearly alien, with sharp edges that gave it both a sleek and blocky form.

"We've tried to enhance the resolution of the images," Lefcourt said. "But even our best techniques have proven useless, the vessels stealth technology appears to be considerably more advanced than that of the Minbari, we only got these images and a readout of the ships power emissions because they allowed us to."

"And how high are the energy emissions and who are these people," Elizabeth asked.

"Their called the Tau'ri," Lefcourt answered. "As for their power emissions they put out _three_ times as much energy as a Minbari Sharlin-class war cruiser. All indications so far indicate that these Tau'ri are even more powerful than the Minbari, and even more mysterious as discrete enquires with our intelligence contacts in the other races reveal no one has any knowledge of them."

"I take it then that these Tau'ri are the people you want me to try and establish diplomatic relations with," Elizabeth said as Lefcourt dismissed the hologram and the lighting in the room returned to normal.

"Yes," Luis answered. "I would like us to be on good relations with this race, whoever they are. If we can get them to sign the Babylon charter then so much the better. A race this powerful we at least have to some understand with, even if it's as simple as an agreement to leave each other alone."

"I understand, but why me, Luis. I've not served in the diplomatic service in nearly twenty years."

"Two reasons. The first being we need to get off on a good footing with this race, and we both have the experience of dealing with more advanced races. I obviously can't go; due to my position here as President as well as the oncoming tour of the inner colonies I have to go on in the next few weeks. You were the best bet and the only person that I can rely on."

"And the second reason," Elizabeth asked.

"The diplomatic service is in all respects the domain of Morgan Clark, anyone I choose from the service will be in his pocket and I'll be damned if that person manages to get his claws into this contact." Elizabeth nodded, she'd had many political battles with the then Senator William Morgan Clark over the years, she knew sending one of his puppets on a diplomatic mission of this importance would be inviting catastrophe.

"All right I'll go," she said after a few moments of quietly contemplating her response. It would be good to serve her world again in some fashion, as she was finding retirement – aside from the odd college speech – somewhat boring.

Luis smiled a genuine smile not the polite politicians smile. "Thank you," he said. "I'll issue the executive order giving you full ambassadorial powers. In the meantime General Lefcourt will make arrangements for a ship."

"When do you want me to start," Elizabeth asked.

"I'll issue to order today, it should be in effect by the morning. As soon as you are ready to leave and your ship is here then you can begin your mission. Thanks again for agreeing."

"It's not a problem. I best get started on the preparation work then."

"I see something's don't change, you always did like to get straight to business," Luis said with a smile standing up and offering her hand. "Good luck."

"To us all," Elizabeth answered standing herself, ignoring the faint twinges of arthritis in her knees. She took the offered hand and shook it before turning and making her way out of the office, mind already beginning to work out the details of what she would have to accomplish on the mission, and how she was going to do it.


	7. Chapter 6

**Stargate: Thirdspace**

Authors Note: To answer a few people the Babylon Five elements of this story are indeed set in season one of the show, shortly after the events of A Voice In The Wilderness Parts I and II.

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Rivendell **

**Five Hours Later**

Governor Alison Shepherd carefully reread the report from Captain McKenzie about the encounter between the _Jutland_ and the Yolu warship in the system where their long range sensors had detected the unknown construct. The details of the Yolu vessel were interesting, but what worried her more were the implications of the encounter. Where one ship from one race had come, others were likely to as well, also the Yolu had seemed to indicate that they would return. Given the constructs proximity to this system it wouldn't take a determined searching force long to locate Rivendell. And that was concerning for any number of reasons that she could think of.

Alison sighed and closed the report; the screen she had been watching the report on went transparent and sunk back down into the surface of her desk. She looked up and met the gaze of Admiral Jacob Robyns sitting across from her, waiting patiently while she read the report.

"Opinion admiral," she asked. "What does this contact mean?"

"It's concerning, ma'am," Jacob admitted. "My concern is that more starships from other races will arrive here. Though it lacked shields the Yolu ship was surprisingly advanced, though not powerful enough to be a threat to one of my ships in a one on one encounter. If a fleet of such warships appeared and had hostile intentions then they could overwhelm us through sheer force of numbers."

"What are our options to avoid that possibility," Alison asked.

"Basically it boils down to one of three options, ma'am. Option one we can stay on in this system and use our cloaking devices to hide both the fleet and the city. Option two we can act on the information given to us by the _Cortez_ and send someone to this Babylon Five and make formal contact with local powers. Option three we could take the city back into space and find somewhere else to go."

Alison sighed, she had been thinking along the same lines. "Option two is by far the best option; I don't care for hiding constantly. We could be stuck in this universe for a long time; this planet has everything that we need to survive and plenty of resources that we can use if we are permanently stuck here. If we go back into space and move elsewhere we might not find another suitable planet. Arwen."

Instantly the lifelike holographic avatar of the cities AI materialised in the room. "Yes, Governor Shepherd?" Arwen asked.

"Review what information we have on Babylon Five and local races for us please," Alison said.

"As you wish," Arwen replied as a holographic screen appeared besides her showing a large space station. "Babylon Five is a space station based on the O'Neill principle, essentially it's a largely hollow cylinder that rotates and uses the centrifugal force of the rotation to generate artificial gravity. The station is located in the Epsilon Eridani system and is considered neutral territory. According to the limited information provided by the _Cortez_ members of all the local spacefaring civilisations and empires meet there in efforts to resolve problems and differences through diplomacy rather than war. As a result the station has also become a major centre of commerce."

"So it's kind of like an intergalactic United Nations," Jacob asked remembering the history of their Earth, how the UN had been a forum of diplomacy between Earth's old nation states prior to the forming of the Federation.

"Correct admiral," Arwen answered. "The limited information provided indicates that the station was constructed by the Earth Alliance in the aftermath of a war with another local power called the Minbari Federation."

"So the space station would be the best place to go to make contact with the local races," Alison said thoughtfully. "Do we have enough information on local civilisations to have large scale interactions with them?"

"I am afraid not Governor Shepherd. We only have very basic data on the races involved, nothing more than names."

"I see. Thank you, Arwen." Arwen nodded her head, rippled with rainbow colours then vanished as if she had never been present.

"We need more information," Jacob said with a thoughtful look on his face. Alison noticed and waited patiently for him to speak.

After a few moments when the admiral didn't speak, Alison spoke up. "What are you thinking, admiral," she asked.

"We need information," Jacob said. "Before we can make contact."

"I know but how do we get it," Alison asked, then smiled as she caught onto what the admiral was thinking. "We send someone covertly to Babylon Five, to gather information prior to making formal contact."

"Exactly. Almost every ship we have – with the exception of the fighters – has the ability to cloak; it would be relatively easy to approach Babylon Five without being detected. Once in position we can easily transport someone on board."

"Sounds like a plan, admiral. Just who do we send on board?"

"I have no idea. We're going to have to review the personnel records of everyone here in the city and on my ships to find the right candidate."

"Then what are we waiting for," Alison asked putting a hand on a panel set into her desk and mentally ordering her viewer to rise up out of its recess and bring up a list of personnel records. "Let's get started."

* * *

**A Few Hours Later**

Lieutenant Michael Tayman struggled to hide his nervousness as the transporter beam from the battleship _Amadeus_ released him in Rivendell's Stargate operations/main control centre. Behind him, back dropped by delicately patterned crystalline windows, was the Stargate itself, currently the only known one of its kind in this universe.

Making his way up the stairs to the cities main control area, he wondered what Governor Shepherd and Admiral Robyns wanted to see him about. He was no one special, just one of many junior officers on the _Amadeus,_ but it was not his place to question orders. Reaching the top of the stairs he found Governor Shepherd waiting for him.

"Lieutenant Tayman," Governor Shepherd said with a smile. "Thank you for coming so promptly."

"Thank you, ma'am," Michael replied. "If I may ask, why have I been summoned?"

"All in good time lieutenant," Alison answered. "Come with me." With that she turned and walked away from the control room, across a small bridge into her office. Michael followed closely, knowing he would not get an answer until Governor Shepherd was willing to give it. Arriving in the office he found Admiral Robyns waiting for them. Immediately he stiffened to attention.

"Sir," he said formally, offering a salute.

Jacob smiled and returned the salute. "At ease, lieutenant," he said. Michael immediately shifted into an at ease posture as Governor Shepherd returned to her familiar seat behind her desk.

"Now then, lieutenant," Alison said. "I know you're curious about why we have asked to see you. Please sit down." Michael nodded and settled down in the second seat besides the one Admiral Robyns was sitting in. "Would you like a drink?"

"No but thank you, ma'am," Michael answered.

"Very well, we will get down to business," Alison replied. "Are you aware of the encounter that took place a few hours ago between the _Jutland_ and a warship belonging to a local race called the Yolu?"

"I have heard a rumour, ma'am."

"The rumour is true, lieutenant," Jacob said speaking up not at all surprised that rumours of the encounter were already spreading. The grapevine in his small fleet and in Rivendell was a strong one; by the end of the day probably everyone would have learned of the _Jutland's_ encounter. "The contact went peacefully though the Yolu were not very talkative to say the least. What has us concerned is the possibility that we will have more encounters."

"Admiral Robyns and I have discussed our options," Alison added. "We feel that our best option is to make contact with as many of the local races as possible all at once, by going to a place in the Epsilon Eridani system called Babylon Five."

"It sounds like a good idea," Michael said. "But what does it have to do with me?"

"We don't have sufficient information on the local races to interact with them to a meaningful degree," Alison answered. "Even the Humans of this reality are aliens to us. Before we can make formal diplomatic overtures we need to get a lot more information. So we are going to send an advanced agent to Babylon Five."

"Me?" Michael asked after a moments thought.

"Yes," Jacob answered.

"Begging your pardon sir but why me?" Michael asked though he had a very good idea, especially if the admiral and the governor had been reviewing his service record.

"According to your service record you were originally a member of military intelligence, but you transferred to normal fleet operations last year," Alison answered.

"That's correct, ma'am," Michael replied. He had transferred to normal fleet operations after having served three years with the military intelligence corps. That had been more than enough for him, the constant suspicions and paranoia had just gotten too much for him.

"You have experience of gathering intelligence quietly and without being detected," Jacob said. "You also have more experience than anyone else here. But don't worry we wont be sending you in their completely without preparation or knowledge of what to expect. Before you transported down Arwen launched a probe towards Babylon Five. With its limited hyperspace speed it should arrive in the next few hours."

Michael nodded. "Good, that will give me something to work with for when I go on board," he said. "I take it that the probe will be running passive scans of Babylon Five and listening to their communications."

"Yes," Jacob answered. "We will monitor the station closely for the next several days to gather as much information as possible. Will that be sufficient time for you to make what preparations you need to make for your mission, lieutenant?"

"Yes sir that should be plenty of time," Michael answered. "I'll have to check with the quartermasters on our ships, see if we have the right kind of equipment in stores."

"That should be no problem," Alison said. "Work with the cities quartermaster and with Arwen that should speed up checking the stores on the ships and here in the city. If we are missing pieces of equipment and have the molecular pattern stored in the database then the cities forges can manufacture it."

"As you wish, ma'am," Michael replied, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of just going through the cities quartermaster and Arwen himself. Going through them would speed things up immensely. "I will need to see all the information we currently have on the local races."

"That will be provided," Jacob said. "Along with copies of the scans the _Jutland_ did of the _Cortez_ and the Yolu warship. That should give you an idea of the technology scales between the various races that you will encounter on Babylon Five."

"That will help a great deal, sir," Michael replied. "If I may ask how am I to get to Babylon Five?"

"One of our Aegean-class scout ships is being prepared for you," Jacob answered. "The _Jutland_ will accompany you as far as Epsilon Eridani and take up station outside the system, they will be your back up. You and I will have to work out the exact details of the contact schedule but you will keep regular contact with them. If anything goes wrong and if it's possible then the _Jutland_ will come in and extract you. In addition to being backup Captain McKenzie and his crew will be acting as your relay, forwarding any data you gather back here to Rivendell."

"I understand," Michael answered. "I hope they don't have to come in an extract me, but we have to prepare for that possibility."

"Exactly right, lieutenant," Jacob replied.

"I believe that covers everything," Alison said. "Is there anything else you can think of lieutenant?"

Michael considered. "Just one ma'am," he responded after a moment. "If I'm to do this properly then I'm going to need my implants working, not just the regular military ones. The implants I was given when working with military intelligence were only deactivated, not removed. I guess they thought I'd want to come back after a year or two in fleet."

Alison nodded, that made sense. Most Tau'ri had what had come to be termed nanoware implants, most just had a basic implant that boosted the immune system making illness or disease rare and speeding up recovery in event of injury. Soldiers had more advanced implants to improve speed, agility and strength, Special Forces like the few squads of Black Falcons with the fleet and intelligence people had more sophisticated implants again. The implants in all cases were small and relatively easy to deactivate or remove.

"I'm sure the cities doctors will be able to reactivate all your implants," Alison answered at last. "Or at the very least most of them, I will speak to them after this meeting and see what they say. In the meantime all currently available data on Babylon Five and the races involved will be sent to the terminal in your quarters on the _Amadeus_ for you to read through."

"Thank you, ma'am," Michael replied. "Will that be all?"

"For now," Alison answered. "Where you go from here lieutenant is up to you. You can return to the _Amadeus_ and do some light reading, or you can remain here and talk to the quartermaster. In the meantime I will speak with the medical staff about the situation with your implants."

"I'll return to the _Amadeus_," Michael answered. "And start going over the information that we have on Babylon Five."

"Very well, you can go," Alison replied and got an affirmative nod from Jacob. "Thank you for agreeing to do this, lieutenant."

"It's no problem ma'am," Michael responded standing up and touching one of the crystal like controls on a band he wore around his wrist, remotely activating the transporter beam. With a soft musical tone and a flash of white light he vanished from the room, instantly transported to the _Amadeus_ floating in geostationary orbit thirty thousand kilometres above Rivendell.

Alison studied the place where he had been standing for a few moments. "I'm glad that he's agreed to the mission," she said. "I had concerns that he would refuse."

"It wouldn't have mattered if he had wanted to refuse, Alison" Jacob said. "If it came down to it I would have made it an order."

"I know, Jacob. I know. I just hope were doing the right thing," Alison answered. "Sending someone to Babylon Five to gather information is a risky strategy. But not as risky as going there and being completely ignorant of the politics of this universe."

"If you're having second thoughts we can always change our plans," Jacob pointed out. "There are still the other two options open to us."

"No this is the best option," Alison replied. "I don't want to explore either of the other two options unless we absolutely have to."

"I agree. Now if you'll excuse me I should return to the _Achilles_, to oversee the preparations for Lieutenant Tayman's mission."

Alison nodded in agreement, letting him know he could go. Jacob smiled and stood up, before touching the same kind of crystal control that Michael Tayman had touched, on his own armband. A millisecond later he vanished in the white flash and musical tone of a transporter beam. Alone in her office once more Alison leaned back in her chair and sighed to herself, wondering if they were doing the right thing.

Only time would tell.

* * *

**Epsilon Eridani**

**One Hour Later**

On the periphery of the Epsilon Eridani system, just inside the orbit of Epsilon Five, a hyperspace window burst into existence, spilling light and energy into normal space. From out of the core of the glowing distortion emerged the Class-2 interstellar survey and reconnaissance probe launched from Rivendell by Arwen a few hours earlier.

Coming to a stop, the probe shimmered for a moment then vanished into the blackness of space as its cloaking device activated. Carefully the probes scanners swept the space immediately around itself – determining that it was where it was supposed to be. Once its guide programs were satisfied the probes small gravitic ion thrusters came online and it accelerated in towards the third planet of the system where its quarry was supposed to be located.

As it cruised through the system at a relatively sedate pace of 40 PSL, the probe focused its scanner arrays on the orbital space of Epsilon Three. Slowly but surely the probe began to pick up the details of the space station and the heavy starship traffic buzzing around it. Over spilling tachyon particles from all the communications activity began to register on the probes scanners and it began the complex process of analysing them, it retrieved little data as the digital radio component of the transmissions was badly scattered and weakened by the dispersion of the signals, but still it began to gather information.

Over a period of another few minutes the signals became more coherent and the probe began to gather far more information and was forced to broaden its scanner horizon to properly process all the different signals. Immediately a low level subspace field caught the probes attention, a field that appeared to be coming from somewhere _inside_ the planet that Babylon Five orbited, the field wasn't particularly strong and seemed to be designed to disrupt tachyon scans as opposed to subspace scans. Had it not had subspace scanners the probes computer doubted it would have even detected the field.

Intrigued and believing that the subspace field would have some impact on its primary objectives the probe dispatched an update to Rivendell, then altered its approach vector so it would eventually ease into an elliptical orbit of both the planet and the space station.

After an indefinite period of time the probe reduced power to its thrusters and settled into the start of its orbit, directly over the northern pole of the seemingly dead world of Epsilon Three. Reaching out with its full array of sensors the probe began the first of its scans.

* * *

**The Great Machine**

Draal was relaxed as his thoughts swept the most distant parts of the Galaxy, the Great Machine's sensors were much more powerful than he had thought. The powerful scanners allowed him to monitor events even in the most remote areas of the known galaxy. As overwhelming as it was at first he start to and indeed was still learning how to use the power of the Great Machine, learning its secrets from those who maintained it now that Varn had passed on. Currently he was observing the amazing sight of a star forming, viewing it with senses far beyond anything his physical body was capable of. It was a truly magnificent sight.

Abruptly something registered on his awareness, something that had the same attention grabbing effect as a glass of cold water being poured over hot skin. A shiver rippled through his virtual body almost in sync with a ripple pulsing through the great machine, a warning of some kind.

_What in Valen's name,_ he thought. Trying to figure out what had happened he diverted the majority of his attention to the Great Machine's close range scanners to learn that a subspace carrier wave had washed over the planet, penetrating to the outer layers of the machine, a scan profile of some kind.

"Impossible," he said softly to himself, incredulity sweeping through him. The Great Machine's memory banks had information on subspace technology, a technology that was beyond any known race bar the oldest of the First Ones. For a moment he wondered if he had misinterpreted the readings, so he had the machine check and recheck the reports. Each came out exactly the same, someone or something had scanned the planet with a subspace sensor from high orbit or somewhere in close range, but where it had come from his own scans could not identify.

Silently Draal made a mental note to keep a close watch on the system, if any recurrence appeared then he would try his best to locate the origin point of the subspace scan, _This could be a problem_ he thought to himself silently.

All around him the machine seemed to pulse in agreement.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**EAS Agamemnon**

**Earth Orbit, Two Days Later**

Captain John Sheridan resisted the impulse to fidget uncomfortably as he stood on the shipside of the _Agamemnon's_ forward starboard airlock, located between the rotational section of the Omega-class destroyer and the starboard missile tubes. He was wearing his full dress uniform a requirement considering who was due to be coming onboard, but he didn't like it. The uniform felt still and uncomfortable, and he desperately wanted to fidget in the thing, but that would not be very unsightly, embarrassing in front of the other two senior ships personnel gathered with him, and would probably also send him flying away in the zero-gravity that filled this part of his ship.

A dull clang of airlock clamps activating rang through the hull and John forced himself to stand straight upright as the airlock began to cycle. In moments the _Agamemnon's_ very important guest and her party would arrive, and he was more than ready for them. Though he couldn't help but wonder why Elizabeth Levy of all people had been pulled out of retirement for a special diplomatic mission to a race that John had never heard of before. General Lefcourt had allowed him to see some information on these Tau'ri though the information that they had was very limited, only really hinting – in a very unsubtle fashion – that their warships were even more powerful than a Minbari Sharlin-class war cruiser and that the one warship that had challenged the _Cortez_ had a very Human name.

Though if the Tau'ri were as powerful as they appeared to be it beggared the question why nobody around here seemed to know anything about them, the information from General Lefcourt had been very specific on that point. All the local races they'd asked had been clueless about them, even the Minbari, Centauri and Yolu – the three oldest of the younger spacefaring races – hadn't been able to shed some light on them. It meant that these Tau'ri whoever or whatever they were an enigma, a potentially very dangerous one and he could see why Earth would be desperate to make friends with them, as it appeared their space boarded the newest areas of Earth's own territory, opposite the boarders with the League and the Minbari. _But why have Elizabeth Levy as the ambassador_, he thought, _she hasn't been in the diplomatic service in twenty years._ After a moments thought he inwardly shrugged, guessing it was politics and he didn't fancy wading into that particular minefield thank you very much.

The shipside airlock doors opened and a crewman blew a whistle making everyone straighten to attention as the diplomatic party started to come through. First through were a pair of special agents from the presidential protection arm of the security services, that was only to be expected as Elizabeth Levy still rated their protection, even as a former president. The next person who air swum through the airlock was Elizabeth Levy herself, followed by an aide who wore a blue Earth Force uniform with the rank bars of a lieutenant commander and another pair of security service personnel.

"Madam Ambassador," John said formally as Elizabeth orientated herself and stuck one of her feet on one of the deck stick pads. "Welcome to the _Agamemnon._"

"Thank you, Captain Sheridan," Levy replied, recognising Sheridan easily, she clearly remembered giving him a medal during the war with the Minbari for scoring their only major victory of that hellish two years when he destroyed the _Black Star,_ the greatest ship in the Minbari fleet. An accomplishment that she knew many Minbari – especially in the warrior caste – still hated him for to this day. "It is good to see you again," she continued.

"Likewise, ma'am," John answered then gestured to the two people with him. "This is Commander James my first officer, and my chief of security Lieutenant Newman."

Elizabeth nodded politely. "Hello, these are Agents Smith, Jones, Patterson and Watkins" she said indicating the four agents with her, before finally gesturing to the lieutenant commander standing next to her. "This is my aide for this mission Lieutenant Commander Chelmsworth."

"Sir," Chelmsworth said offering a salute to Captain Sheridan and feeling a thrill about actually meeting him face to face. John Sheridan had long been a hero of his, a model of how an Earth Force officer should be.

John returned the gesture. "At ease, lieutenant commander," he said. Chelmsworth relaxed his posture and dropped the salute. "Now that the introductions are over with, I can show you to your quarters."

Elizabeth smiled. "I would like that," she replied, the last couple of hours had been a whirlwind for her, making sure that everything was as ready as it could be, and sending a few changes of clothes to the _Agamemnon_ ahead of her, she would welcome the chance to sit down and put her feet up for a few hours while the ship began its journey to NL-24.

John nodded and pushed himself off from the stick pad that had been holding him down. "This way please, ambassador," he said before starting to air swim down the corridor towards the rotational sections that made up the central third of the ship. One by one everyone followed, manoeuvring expertly in the zero gravity, even Elizabeth Levy as she'd been in zero gravity before as in her days as president Earth Force One hadn't had rotational gravity like the modern one commissioned four years ago did.

"Captain Sheridan," Elizabeth said.

"Yes ambassador," John replied.

"Once we leave orbit how long will it take us to reach System NL-24? I've been trying to do the calculations in my head but I'm afraid mathematics was never my strongest point."

"We can't travel to the system in question directly, ma'am," John replied. "There aren't enough hyperspace beacons between us and there. We're going to have to follow the route the _Cortez_ is taking to come home, so it will take approximately two weeks to reach our destination at top speed."

"Thank you, captain," Elizabeth replied committing the information to memory. She wasn't surprised that it was going to take them so long to get out to System NL-24. They would have to first travel out towards the boarder with the isolationist Yolu Confederation, travel along the Alliance side of the completely undisputed border – before changing course for the hyperspace beacon of the closest jump gate to NL-24, the opposite side to Earth Alliance currently claimed territory – and the direction they were most expanding in as almost everywhere else around was claimed by some race or another. It was going to be along journey she knew, she just hoped that at the end it would be all worth it.

"How long till we can break orbit," she asked after a moments silence as she'd contemplated their journey time.

"We're currently taking on some more deuterium fuel for the reactors, other supplies and replacement crew – as some of my people are moving on to new assignments or their enlistment tours are up – ma'am," John replied. "If everything stays on schedule for a change we should be able to break orbit inside of three hours. You would be quite welcome to join us on the bridge for when we get underway."

"That is most kind of you, captain," Elizabeth answered as they passed through an armoured bulkhead and she began to feel a light pull of gravity. Following Captain Sheridan she reoriented herself and let the light pull bring her down so her feet only just touched the deck, while grabbing a safety hand rail so she wouldn't go flying off with every step in the Moon like gravity in this core rotational chamber.

"You're welcome, ambassador, this way please," John acknowledged with a smile as he gripped the safety rail and walked towards the ladder that would take them either up or down into one of the ships rotational areas. Elizabeth smiled back and waited as John got onto the ladder and began climbing down, she waited for him to be clear then started following him down into the Earth normal gravity of the rotational section.

* * *

**The Great Machine**

**Epsilon 3, Epsilon Eridani**

**That Same Time**

Draal scowled slightly as another shiver ran through his virtual body in sync with another ripple pulsed through the Great Machine, the latest in a series of pulses of ever changing make up and focus over the last two Earth days. Another subspace scan, the most sophisticated and penetrating of the series so far had just passed through the Great Machine.

Over the last few days he had been diverting much of his resources and focus to locating the source of the subspace scans, knowing that it had to be one of the First Ones doing it as no one else around here, possessed subspace technology. He considered a matter of vital importance especially as his observations showed the Shadows starting to make their first moves for the war to come. But the scan profiles didn't match the First One scan profiles stored in the Great Machine's vast databanks, it didn't even match the scanners of the Walkers, the scan was from somebody new, somebody never encountered before. And given what was happening in the galaxy at the moment that was a worrying development.

Broadening his focus slightly Draal noticed that Epsilon Three wasn't alone in being subjected to the subspace scans. As he observed a scan pulse seemed to come from nowhere to sweep through Babylon Five, a second pulse followed, then a third all directed at Babylon Five, though the scans seemed to come from a slightly different position each time. Surprise rippled through Draal as he realised that The Great Machine was not the main target of the scans, Babylon Five was. That was even more concerning in away, given the important role he knew Babylon Five was going to have in the war to come. Clearly whoever was behind these scans was more interested in the space station than the planet.

Watching closely Draal noticed another series of scans pulses appear, this time from just below Babylon Five's forward cargo stabilisers, shooting through the length of the station. With the machines own subspace scanners Draal reached out and probed the area in depth, and felt something, but he couldn't tell what. His scanners couldn't lock onto whatever it was; they just seemed to just slide right off it. It felt like a stealth device of some kind, but one much more advanced than anything he had ever come across.

Intrigued and concerned Draal tried to keep his scanners on the target, only to find he couldn't find it at all now. _What in Valen's name is going on here,_ he thought as another scan pulse erupted; from underneath the stations forward section. Changing his scanner focus again he picked up the odd distortion again a millisecond before it fired off another scan pulse, then a third. He noticed it appeared to be moving, and then it vanished completely from his scanners again, not even the faint distortion remaining.

Broadening his focus slightly he kept an eye open for the distortion while setting another part of the Great Machine to work on working out a pattern, and trying to reconfigure scanners to better track the distortion whenever it appeared. For the next few hours he observed the scanner pulses appear at regular intervals, each coming from a different location and some seeming to be differently modulated to others. The source seemed to moving down towards Epsilon Three's southern pole, at least from what he could gather from the momentary contacts with the distortion.

A slight chime in his mind drew his attention and Draal saw an orbital track, hazy but there appear in his vision. The Great Machine had been able to extrapolate the movements of the brief distortions and project that whatever was causing them was orbiting both Babylon Five and Epsilon Three in an elliptical fashion. _But what in Valen's name is it,_ Draal thought, _it's too small to be a starship; it could well be some sort of probe._

Pulling back, while directing a part of the Great Machine to keep an eye on the situation, Draal retreated into himself and thought for a moment. If it was a probe then whoever its makers were there primary interest was in Babylon Five, the pulses seemed to not be directed at specific areas of either the space station or the planet that had taken custody of him. _I must inform Commander Sinclair of this,_ he thought. _If someone or something is watching Babylon Five then he needs to be aware of it._

Reaching outwards again Draal scanned Babylon Five, searching for Commander Sinclair's unique signature. Immediately he found him in his office and he appeared to be alone. _Excellent,_ he thought activating his holographic communications system.

* * *

**Sinclair's Office**

**Babylon Five.**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair sighed and put the report he had been reading down. The report outlined the latest information Earth had on the state of play between the different members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds. A trade dispute between the Brakiri and the Drazi looked like it was about to flare up into something a bit more serious. _I'll have to summon the Drazi and Brakiri ambassadors to a meeting,_ he thought, _sort this trade dispute out before it escalates into violence. I should have a word with Delenn as well; maybe the Minbari will be willing to assist in mediating between them._

A yellow glowing light abruptly caught his attention and he looked up in time to see a holographic representation of Draal appear in the room, the hologram appearing more solid and lifelike than the last time Draal had communicated holographically. The appearance of Draal now as shocking, as he had as much said last time that they would not be hearing from him again for sometime.

"Commander Sinclair, I hope I am not intruding," Draal said politely. "But we need to speak."

"It's alright, Draal you're not intruding," Jeff replied sitting up straight in his chair. "I was just trying to work out away of getting the Drazi and Brakiri to see sense before their trade dispute escalates into violent exchanges."

"That will be challenging considering how volatile the Drazi are," Draal responded. "Maybe you should involve Delenn; she has a knack for getting quarrelsome ambassadors to see sense. However that is not the reason why I have come to see you."

"I guessed as much," Jeff answered. "What is it? It has to be something important for you to break your isolation like this."

"Believe me it is," Draal replied. "For the last two days both this station and the planet below have been subjected to a series of scans."

"From where, and why have we not detected them," Jeff asked instantly concerned. As far as he knew their had been no scans of Babylon Five done beyond the normal ship-to-station-station-to-ship scans done in the last few days. Certainly he had not been informed by Lieutenant Commander Ivanova of anything unusual, when Susan would normally report anything that could pose a threat to station security immediately.

"The scans are subspace based, commander," Draal replied. "They are beyond the technology of most species to detect, with the Great Machine's resources I can detect them, but the scan pulses are both to brief and too advanced for me to decode. As for where they are coming from there appears to be an object orbiting both this station and the planet below in an elliptical fashion. Each orbit appears to take the object roughly one to one and a half Earth hours to complete. During each orbit Babylon Five is scanned at least six times and the planet approximately three to four times."

"A probe," Jeff asked elliptical orbits were uncommon to say the least, only being used by satellites and defence platforms. No one here would use an elliptical orbit, ships approaching or leaving the station did orbit it but not in that fashion and they certainly never orbited Epsilon Three.

"It is possible," Draal answered. "However my sensors cannot lock onto the object, it appears to be equipped with stealth technology. My sensors just slide off it and can only even get a partial echo for a few nanoseconds before the contact vanishes completely. I can only get the partial echo when it scans, which means it probably reduces power to its stealth system. The stealth technology is much more advanced than that employed by any known race."

"Any known race," Sinclair said thoughtfully suddenly thinking about the information he had been sent by the _Cortez_ and Earth Force Command a few days ago on the mysterious Tau'ri encountered by Captain Maynard and his crew in System NL-24. Could this probe or whatever it was belong to them? If it did why was it here?

"Commander," Draal asked looking at Sinclair with interest. Though he was no expert at reading Human body language or expressions Draal could see that Sinclair was thinking of something.

"Just a thought, Draal," Jeff answered before filling Draal in on the encounter the _Cortez_ had had with the Tau'ri cruiser in System NL-24. "I was just thinking could this probe or whatever it is be Tau'ri in origin."

Draal looked thoughtful. "It is possible," he agreed. "However there is no mention of a species called the Tau'ri in the Great Machine's databanks. But that does not necessarily mean they do not exist just they have never been encountered before. It is very possible that the probe or whatever it is scanning the station and the planet is of there construction."

"Well wherever it's from we can't let this continue," Jeff said with a sigh. "There may not be any hostile intentions but still these scans are a potential threat and must stop."

"I can provide you with the orbital vector worked out by the Great Machine," Draal replied. "But I would advise against shooting the probe down, if that is what it is. If the probe was constructed by these Tau'ri you speak of then they are obviously a very advanced and powerful civilisation that would be wise not to be antagonised."

"I have no intention of shooting down the probe or whatever it is," Sinclair replied. "Not if it can be avoided. If it's a stealth probe as I suspect it is probably programmed to withdraw if it's detected. That's all we need it to do is leave."

Draal nodded. "I will provide you with the vector, good luck commander," he said and seemed to blink. A moment later Sinclair's link bleeped for attention, Draal smiled then vanished as if he had never been. Jeff blinked, sighed softly, and then answered the hail as his link chirped again.

"Sinclair, go," he said already guessing who it would be. He was not disappointed.

"Commander," Susan Ivanova answered, surprise in her voice. "We just received a transmission from Epsilon Three. It appears to be an orbital vector of some kind."

"I've been expecting it," Sinclair replied. "Launch Starfuries and deploy them in a search pattern along that vector."

"Aye sir, commander what's going on?" Susan answered.

"I'm on my way up there now," Jeff replied leaving his office for the transport tube. "I'll explain when I arrive. Now just launch the Starfuries, lieutenant commander."

"Yes, sir." Ivanova signed off and Jeff sighed knowing he was going to be facing a Russian equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition as soon as he got to Command and Control, but he didn't mind. Susan needed to know what was happening as much as he did.

* * *

**Outside Babylon Five**

**Thirty Minutes Later**

The survey and reconnaissance probe came around the northern pole of Epsilon Three running another scan of the planet below as it did so and immediately detected a flurry of activity around Babylon Five. A large number of small craft had been launched from the space station and deployed around it in a pattern that seemed to be a search pattern of some kind.

Already committed to its current orbit the probe immediately began running diagnostics on its cloaking device, checking for any malfunctions that could have led to it being detected in some shape or fashion. Though the results came back negative and that all systems were functioning normally, the tactical processors indicated that caution and new instructions were required. The probe cancelled the current pattern of scans and calculated the optimum point of it to break its orbit of the space station; it would take less energy there than fighting the planets gravity well.

Keeping its systems on low power and short range scans to a minimum the probe coasted along its orbit above the station, as soon as it passed it would break orbit and head out into deep space from where it would be able to signal Rivendell for new instructions without risk of detection.

A proximity alert abruptly ran through the probes navigational system as it started to pass between the massive heat radiators/solar collector fins of the space station. One of the small objects that the probes sensors revealed to be some kind of fighter craft was directly in its orbital path. Immediately the navigational processors overrode the tactical system and started to power back up the probes gravitic ion thrusters. Moments from impact the probes fired its thrusters, hoping to drive straight upwards on a ballistic track. Powerful as the probes thrusters were they weren't fast enough to escape inertia.

With a thundering impact that shattered some of its primary control crystals the probe impacted the distinctive X-shaped fighter. The impact ripping one of the wings and engine pods off the fighter, while tearing through the probes sensitive main gravitic ion thrusters array. Both craft tumbled away from each other, the probe trailing sparks, liquid naquada from a ruptured fuel cell and its cloaking device starting to fail, making it appear and disappear.

The probe attempted to stabilise itself but propulsion system did not respond, the collision having damaged several critical systems. With all systems beginning to crash the probe shut itself down, shunting all its remaining power to its automatic repair systems. Then the main systems crashed and the probe knew no more.

* * *

**Zeta Two**

**A Few Moments Earlier**

Lieutenant Warren Keffer resisted the impulse to sigh in boredom as he guided his fighter along the topside of Babylon Five. He had no idea what had gotten the stations top brass all worked up that they had scrambled all fighters. All he knew was they had been ordered to run a search along a particular, oddly elliptical orbit, and that it was boring as hell. _I could be in the Zocalo now enjoying my evening off,_ he thought, _but no the command staff have to send us out here. Wish I knew what's got the commander so shaken up._

A second later there was a tremendous boom and his fighter jerked violently and spun as with a harsh screech of tearing metal the upper right wing and engine pod where ripped clean off. All his panel lights went red as the Starfury spun out of control, only just avoiding a collision with the station as it passed within a hairs breath of hitting one of the solar radiator arrays.

"Mayday, mayday," Warren yelled into his radio. "Babylon Five this is Zeta Two I've hit something, am out of control. Systems failing. Engines going critical, ejecting."

"Affirmative, Zeta Two," Lieutenant Commander Ivanova responded from command and control even as Warren reached up and pulled the lever that separated the pilot's module from the rest of the Starfury. With a series of thuds, explosive bolts fired and the pilot's module flew away from the rest of the fighter. A few moments before the fighters remaining engines went critical and the main body of the fighter disintegrated in a massive fireball.

"Babylon Five to Zeta Two are you alright," Commander Sinclair's voice came over the comm. system.

"I'm okay, sir," Warren responded. "I could just use a lift."

"Sit tight, lieutenant. Help is on its way," Sinclair replied.

"Aye, sir," Warren replied then noticed something out the corner of his eyes, something trailing sparks and fading in an out as it tumbled through space. "Commander there is something else out here."

"Can you identify it lieutenant," Ivanova asked. Warren peered closely at it. Whatever it was it was quite small, about half the size of a Starfury, fading in and out as if it wasn't there, then was, then wasn't again.

"It appears to be some kind of probe," he answered. "About half the size of a Starfury, vaguely cylindrical in shape, there are spokes coming out around the centre, supporting a ring. The rings glowing with a flickering blue light, there is another ring just above the spokes it's also flickering blue. The bottom appears to be damaged, trailing sparks and some kind of liquid. It keeps appearing and disappearing, one moment its there then it's gone… wait the flickering has stabilised. It's visible. The glowing rings have gone dark; my guess is its dead."

"Understood, lieutenant," Sinclair replied. "Sit tight, helps coming to you now." Warren nodded he could see two more Starfuries approaching, vectoring in on his position. A third was heading for the probe to recover it, presumably for study. Looking at the Starfuries approaching Warren groaned slightly. Recognising them as belonging to Alpha Squadron, one of the originals assigned to Babylon Five, whereas his squadron had only been here a month or two, personally presented by the president himself.

_There never going to let me live this down,_ he thought groaning again knowing they would have something more to rib him and Zeta Squadron with. They already got a lot of that from the other pilots. _Could be worse Warren,_ he told himself, _you're alive when that collision could easily have killed you._

Warren smiled softly. He would put up with the inevitable ribbing from all the other pilots, he'd escaped the collision with his life and body intact – though his nerves were another story – and that was all that really mattered.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**TFS Achilles**

**One Hour Later**

Admiral Jacob Robyns frowned as he read the report that had just been presented to him by his flagships captain Josephine Owens. He had placed her in charge of the team monitoring the telemetry from the probe that had been launched from Rivendell towards Babylon Five two days ago as it came in. The probes covert observations had already yielded valuable information about the space station, its various different alien occupants, and what Earth culture was like in this universe. Observations that would be vital to Lieutenant Tayman when he went to Babylon Five in a few more days to gather information. Now though the probe had missed one of its check in times, the subspace databurst that they should have received fifteen minutes ago had not arrived.

"Are you sure this is accurate," he asked looking up from the electronic pad at Josephine.

"I'm afraid so, sir," Owens replied. "We've lost all contact with the probe, when we didn't receive the databurst I ordered communications to send an interrogative transmission to the probe."

"And," Jacob prompted.

"There was no response, not even an automatic acknowledgement from the probes subspace transceiver array," Owens answered. "That can only mean one of two things, either the probe has been somehow disabled, or it's been destroyed. But I don't see how that's possible as previous scans showed Babylon Five does not possess scanners anywhere near sophisticated enough to penetrate a cloaking field."

"I seem to remember the probe reporting subspace emissions from the planet that Babylon Five orbits," Jacob said. "Could they have detected the probe?"

"Unlikely, while the subspace scans from the planet were on non-standard frequencies, they were well within the capacity of the probes cloaking field to block. There were also no signs of any communications between the machine complex beneath the surface of the planet and Babylon Five. Given the machines stealth field and the absence of any form of subspace technology observed on the space station and surrounding ships it's possible that Babylon Five doesn't even know its there."

Jacob sighed and leaned back in his seat thoughtfully. "We need to know the fate of that probe," he said. "Or Lieutenant Tayman's mission could fail, which is something we cannot afford to happen, we need the intel that only he's qualified and equipped to gather. Any suggestions on what our next course of action should be, captain?"

"We could get Arwen to dispatch a second probe," Owens replied after a moment of thoughtful silence. "Alternatively we detail one of our ships to investigate."

"Neither of those options is ideal," Jacob commented. "If the probes been destroyed or captured, then a second would be equally vulnerable. And if we were going to send a ship, we might as well start Lieutenant Tayman's mission earlier than originally planned."

"I know, sir. But doing nothing about the probes disappearance is certainly not an option. If it's been captured or destroyed then we must retrieve either it or the debris before it can be examined and its secrets probed. If we don't it could upset the balance of power among the races of this galaxy."

"That is true," Jacob replied with a sigh. From the probes earlier observations they already knew that there was a very delicate balance of power between the various races and empires of this galaxy. The very last thing they wanted to do was upset that balance as it could lead to the unpleasantness of interstellar war. Something that Babylon Five was built to prevent, though it didn't always seem to succeed.

"The only option that is anywhere near feasible is to send the _Jutland_ and Lieutenant Tayman earlier than we had planned to," Jacob continued after a few moments of carefully weighing up the options. "Alright captain, here's what I want you to do. Contact the _Jutland_ and summon Captain McKenzie to a meeting on this ship. Then contact Rivendell ask Governor Shepherd to transport up here as soon as possible, and ask her if she can bring Lieutenant Tayman with her, tell her we need to talk on a most urgent matter."

"Aye, sir."

"And have communications keep trying to raise the probe on subspace," Jacob finished.

"Aye, sir, I'll see to it at once."

"Dismissed then captain," Jacob said. Owens nodded, came to attention, then turned and left the ready room, leaving Jacob alone with his thoughts, thoughts on how they could salvage the Babylon Five situation and their intelligence mission to it now that there probe had mysteriously been lost. _We'll think of something,_ he thought, _we have to._

* * *

**Babylon Five**

**That Same Time**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair, accompanied by Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova and Security Chief Michael Garibaldi stepped into the maintenance bay where the maintenance bots had recently deposited the alien probe. Already a team of scientists and technicians headed by Dr Tasaki had begun a cautious examination of the object, to determine what its purpose here had been, and how it had been able to hide from their sensors for the last few days.

Walking deeper into the large space Jeff got his first look at the alien probe, sitting silent and dead on one of the work benches. Lieutenant Keffers description of the probe was very accurate; it was a two and a half metre long cylinder of some silvery grey metal, with a single ring like structure held on spokes away from the main body of the probe. The edges of the ring looked to be made of some sort of crystal, the second ring built into the main body of the probe also appeared crystalline. The base of the cylinder was crumpled and cracked no doubt from where it collided with Keffers Starfury, though it wasn't as bad as would have been expected from such a powerful impact. Whatever material the probe was made from it had to be very strong to have survived the impact with the Starfury so well, a similar Earth Alliance probe would have been destroyed.

"Dr Tasaki," Jeff called out to get the attention of Babylon Five's resident scientist, though not for much longer as he knew Tasaki's university wanted him back at the end of the year. Tasaki paused in what he was doing with his team – trying to figure out a way to access the inner workings of the alien probe – and came over.

"Commander Sinclair," Tasaki replied.

"Have you been able to learn anything from the probe so far, doctor?" Jeff asked.

"Not much I'm afraid," Tasaki answered apologetically. "We have checked for any radiation leakage and thankfully there is none that we can detect, the probe is still emitting a small amount of energy. We've tried to identify the waveform but it doesn't match anything in our database, all we know is its not fusion based, I've sent a request to Earth Central to check their records if they have anything, it might also be and idea to ask the Centauri, Minbari and possibly the Vorlons if they have any record of this kind of energy waveform."

"I doubt Earth Central will agree to that but we have to find out where this thing is from," Jeff replied. "I'm due to meet with Ambassador Delenn in an hour to discuss the deteriorating trade situation with the Drazi and Brakiri, I can ask her then. Have you been able to learn anything else?"

"Only that whatever this probe is made from the material has some remarkable properties. A small piece that came off is being put through an analysis machine as we speak, that should yield us some concrete results soon. The metal chip I spoke of was very light, someone dropped it as well and it wasn't damaged, in fact it scratched the deck. We've been trying to get inside the probe and we discovered that this metal is completely impervious to our plasma cutters, they don't even scratch it."

"Doc those plasma cutters can slice through the armour on a Starfury," Garibaldi exclaimed. "Are you saying that whatever metal this probe is made out of the material is it's lighter and stronger than what we use in armour?"

"It appears to be, Mr Garibaldi," Tasaki answered. "We're trying to figure out another way of seeing what's inside the probe; portable scanners are useless they can't see through the metal. We're thinking about threading a probe in through the damage at the base, hopefully it will reveal some of the probes inner secrets, maybe reveal some symbols that could help identify who built the thing."

"I have my suspicions," Jeff said. "I have no proof of course but I suspect that this probe could be Tau'ri in origin."

"That would make sense," Ivanova said thoughtfully. "We know very little about the Tau'ri, other than the fact that at least one of their vessels has a very Earth like name and that said vessel pumps out much more energy than a Minbari cruiser. Thanks to the information the _Cortez_ sent to them they know about this station and its purpose. They could have sent the probe here for the purpose of gathering more information about us and the state of the galaxy."

"If this really is a Tau'ri probe then Earth Central is going to want to know everything about it," Jeff pointed out. "And know it now, especially given the formal first contact mission headed by former president Levy, which they've launched."

"Bit premature to launch that kind of a mission isn't it?" Garibaldi commented. "The Tau'ri might not want to accept formal contact with us yet. Last time they asked the _Cortez_ to leave politely they might not be as accommodating the next time."

"It does seem a bit," Ivanova agreed. "I just hope Earth Central knows what there doing, the last thing we want is to make an alien race – a race with possibly superior technology to the Minbari – upset with us."

Jeff was about to reply when one of the technicians examining the possible Tau'ri space probe gave an excited cry. "I've found something," the tech called out. Instantly Dr Tasaki spun around and looked at the technician with Sinclair, Ivanova and Garibaldi all looking over his shoulders.

"What is it," Tasaki asked.

"I believe that it's a control of some sort," the technician replied, pointing to a small grove in the side of the probe, just below the ring structures. Inside the grove was a panel just big enough to be touched with a persons fingers, the panel looked like it was made either from glass or crystal, there were no markings at all present. "It looks like you have to touch it to get the probe to open up," the tech added as he threaded his fingers in, against all common sense to the contrary.

"Careful," Tasaki warned urgently just as the technician's finger tips found the crystal panel. The panel lit up almost immediately and a series of bleeping chirps came from the probe, a moment before the crystal panel flashed red. The probes outer ring began glowing again for a moment and the section facing the tech glowed brighter than the rest, then a beam of diffuse blue light lashed out from the ring, hit the tech and threw the reckless younger man back to crumple onto the floor close by. The crystal panel on the probe went dark but the outer ring continued to glow and for a moment the air around the probe seemed to shimmer, then settle down.

Tasaki and the other techs barely noticed as they raced over to the tech that'd touched the probe, the young man was lying near motionless on the deck, only the rising and falling of his chest indicating that he was still breathing.

"Get a medical team down here now," Jeff ordered to Michael Garibaldi as he walked over to the fallen younger man, silently cursing his foolishness. It was obvious that the probe would be programmed by whoever built it, presumably the Tau'ri, to protect itself from unauthorised access. "How is he," he asked Tasaki who was checking the tech's vitals as well as he could.

"He seems okay," Tasaki answered. "He's just unconscious; whatever that beam was I suspect it was probably some kind of stunner."

"Dr Franklin is coming," Garibaldi spoke up as he approached, lowering his link. "But I suggest all work on this probe by suspended until we're given the all clear that beam may have been a stunner but it could have been something more sinister. Remember what happened the last time unknown alien objects were brought onto the station."

Jeff nodded remembering clearly what had happened with the Ikkaran biomechanical artefacts smuggled onto the station by one of Steven's ex-professors Vance Hendrix. They'd turned out to be components of a deadly weapons system, which had promptly assimilated Hendrix assistant, Nelson. Transforming him into an unstoppable killing machine that had gone on a murderous rampage through the station, until Jeff had been able to get through to the Ikkaran personality buried under the machines programming, and convince it to destroy itself and free Nelson. Remembering that incident very well indeed he could understand where Garibaldi was coming from, it was after all, remotely possible that that energy beam had infected the tech with some unknown alien technology.

"Doctor you'll have to suspend your examination of the probe for now," Jeff said to Tasaki. The ethnic Japanese man nodded reluctantly, he could feel that the probe was a treasure trove just waiting to be opened, but now the discoveries would have to wait. Wait until Dr Franklin gave his tech the all clear.

Jeff was about to speak again when a bleep caught his attention, a bleep coming from the direction of the probe. Spinning around to look at the probe he found it was still motionless on the bench, the probe bleeped again and the outer ring pulsed blue once. Silently he began counting, he had just reached ten when the probe flashed and bleeped again. He counted again, and again reached ten just as the probe bleeped and flashed.

"It must be transmitting a beacon signal of some sort," he said. "Those bleeps are far too regular to be countdown or anything like that."

"A distress beacon," Garibaldi suggesting, hazarding a guess, "informing whoever its makers are that it's been captured."

"Or it could be a warning, telling us to keep away, that it will blow up if we attempt to open it again," Ivanova replied with her typical bleakness as the probe continued bleeping and pulsing every ten seconds.

"Whichever it is we should take it as a sign to leave the probe alone," Jeff answered. "Dr Tasaki, until we can be sure that this thing is safe and not going to do something drastic on us, you will have to make do with remote observation and sensor readings. If we can get any at all."

"Fair enough," Tasaki replied though he sounded disappointed and resigned. Disappointed that he wasn't going to get to take the probe apart to probe its secrets, resignation for exactly the same reason and knowing that he would not get anything by arguing. Not that he planned to, the probe had shown it wasn't defenceless and would have to be treated with a great deal of caution from here on in.

Further discussions on the probe were prevented by the medical team, headed up by Dr Franklin himself, rushing into the room to attend to the unconscious technician.

* * *

**Vorlon Diplomatic Transport**

**Approaching Babylon Five, A Few Moments Later**

Ambassador Kosh Narenek borrowed the senses of his ship as the diplomatic transport emerged from the jump gate and made its way towards Babylon Five. His visit to the homeworld of his kind had given him cause for increased concern, the Shadows were moving, moving cautiously as always but nevertheless they were moving. The descent into the distasteful chaos of war was beginning.

He had already known that the Shadows had returned to Za'ha'dum after a thousand years of exile and were once more preparing their forces for war. He knew they had sent out agents to start recruiting the younger races to their cause with promises of glory and power, his recent encounter with the thrall Morden and his Shadow escort when raiders hit Babylon Five had told him that. But what he hadn't known was just how far the Shadows influence had already spread, how strong they and their dark servants already were and how unprepared the empire was to stand in opposition with the younger races as they had always done.

It was disturbing to say the least. The Vorlon Empire did not have enough dreadnoughts fully grown yet to stand toe to toe with the dancers of the dark and none of the planet killers were even half ready. Kosh knew they were going to have to be careful now, he would say as much to Delenn when she inevitably came to him as she had always done. No one, not even the Minbari were ready to challenge the Shadows yet, they needed more time to prepare, a lot more time. They had already moved up plans as much as possible, working covertly with the Minbari Anla'shok to build hybrid warships that employed both Vorlon and Minbari technology, but the prototype for the class – already christened White Star by the Minbari – was far from being ready.

With his ships sensors Kosh observed Babylon Five; the station might begin to forefill its place in the circle sooner than intended. Through the thrall Morden the Shadows had already been here once and they were sure to come again, spreading their poison among the children the Vorlons were pledged to guard and guide. Kosh was afraid, afraid of what was coming, and even knowing the circle was not as reassuring as he had once believed. Time was a capricious thing, guarding its secrets closely, the events of the circle could proceed at the pace they had always gone or they could accelerate or slowdown, there was never any way to be absolutely sure.

His ship abruptly sung an alert and Kosh turned his attention away from the station to the sensor readouts and surprise rippled through the Vorlon. The ship was picking up a subspace communication emission, that in itself was nothing unusual, the Great Machine of Epsilon Three constantly emitted subspace emissions of various kinds as it probed the secrets of the universe, but what was unusual was where these emissions were coming from. They were coming from somewhere within Babylon Five and they were on a frequency range that the Vorlons had not encountered in millions of years.

Incredulous Kosh sung a command to his ship, ordering it to focus a subspace scan on the section of the space station that the communications signal seemed to be coming from. He waited patiently as the subspace scanners reached out across the void and probed a section of Babylon Five. Kosh listened intently as the ship sung the findings of the scanners to him; the emissions were coming from a probe that was being held in one of the maintenance bays. It was only giving off weak power emissions, indicating it were damaged, but the waveform was strong enough for the ship to identify as being a power source not encountered in millions of years.

Kosh was stunned. Coupled with the subspace emission frequency the energy waveform implied the return of a powerful species of First Ones, the ones who'd made sure most of the younger races evolving at the time would be humanoid like them. _Could it really be them,_ Kosh thought, _could the Alterans really be back after all this time?_ If it were true, if the Alterans had returned from exploring wherever they had vanished to, then many things would become possible.

Kosh opened his perception to the subspace telepathic network that joined each Vorlon to every other, ensuring order and harmony among there great race. With calmness he didn't really feel he relayed what he had learned to the common ether. Ripples of shock passed through the commonality, as a whole the Vorlon race reeling in surprise for the first time in eons.

After a moment the Vorlon Emperor Kosh Ulkaran himself touched Kosh's thoughts and Kosh felt honoured and humbled as the great ones mind touched his own. The strength, wisdom and pure peace of the great ones thoughts that had guided the empire for longer than Kosh could remember were very humbling.

_"Kosh Narenek investigate the signal in person immediately," _Kosh Ulkaran ordered. _"Report back at once. If as you suspect the Alterans are back then much will become possible." _

_"At once Kosh Ulkaran,"_ Kosh replied. The Emperor withdrew from his thoughts and Kosh withdrew himself from the commonality – leaving it back in its normal place at the back of his awareness, and turned his attention back to the ship. Babylon Five had transmitted him docking clearance and the ship was already carrying it out, heading for its familiar berth on the Human space station.

Kosh resolved to immediately go to the maintenance bay where the probe appeared to be as soon as the docking sequence was completed. If he was right, if the probe was Alteran in origin – or built by someone with their technology – then the empire needed to know so they could make new plans.

Plans that could lead to the ending of these tastefully chaotic battles with the dancers of the dark, and prove the supremacy of the Vorlon ideal once and for all.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**Babylon Five**

**Thirty Minutes Later**

Doctor Stephen Franklin frowned in confusion as he looked at the medical scanner readouts from the technician that had been shot by the supposedly Tau'ri probe. They'd rushed the unconscious man here though he appeared to be in no danger, just unconscious. Nothing they did seemed to bring him out of it and he had just scanned him to find out why. The scan readings were like nothing he had ever seen before.

There was some kind of energy still present in the tech's body and especially concentrated in his nervous system, it was fading away but it still showed up on his scan. It appeared to have caused some sort of systemic nervous disruption, resulting in instant unconsciousness, though the scanner confirmed all nerves were undamaged. It was obvious that the energy he was picking up had come from the weapon the probe fired at the tech but he had never seen anything like it before. And nor had the computer, it didn't match any of the kind of residues left by known energy weapons. Also puzzling was the fact that there was no injury to the tech where the beam had struck him. Whatever weapon the probe had fired it was really strange and very alien, more alien that the particle or plasma weapons they normally encountered.

"Well doc," Michael Garibaldi asked from behind him. Stephen turned to look at the security chief; he and Lieutenant Commander Ivanova had accompanied him to med lab from the maintenance bay where the probe was kept. Commander Sinclair had had to leave them and get ready for his meeting with Delenn about the trade dispute on the verge of flaring into violence between the Drazi and Brakiri.

"He's okay," Stephen answered at last. "There is some kind of energy – presumably from whatever weapon the probe fired – present in his body. It's keeping him unconscious but it's dissipating slowly. At the current rate of dissipation the tech should wake up in another six hours. Basically he's been stunned incredibly heavily with something that caused a system wide disruption without doing any permanent harm."

"What kind of weapon could do that," Ivanova asked.

"Unknown. The beam was obviously some kind of disruptive force beam nothing like the particle or plasma weapons used by anyone around here," Stephen replied. "Though this weapon appears only designed to disable a target and not kill."

"Unless it's like those old sci-fi weapons that can stun and kill," Garibaldi replied. "So what do you recommend we do now Doc?"

"We'll I'd say not to touch the alien probe at all," Stephen answered. "And you could be right this weapon could have different settings for doing different things. This time the probe only stunned, next time it could well kill. And I have no idea what kind of damage repeated hits by this disruptor – for lack of a better word – beam would do to the human body."

"Unfortunately leaving the probe alone is not going to be an option," Ivanova said. "EarthGov wants information on the probe and whoever built it as soon as possible. Especially if the commander is right and this is a Tau'ri probe."

Stephen sighed. "Then I can only recommend that we follow the strictest possible bio-hazard protocols while we're working on the probe," he said. "And anyone who's spent more than a couple of minutes with it should come in here afterwards for a thorough examination."

"I'll see to it," Ivanova answered a moment before Garibaldi's link went off.

"Go," Garibaldi said answering the offending device.

"Chief we've got Ambassador Kosh outside the bot maintenance bay where we're holding the alien probe," one of the security personnel on duty at the bot bay replied. "He wishes to see the probe for some reason."

"I'll be right there," Garibaldi answered and closed the connection before sharing looks with Stephen and Susan. "Anyone else here get the feeling that the Vorlon knows something about who made the probe." Both raised their hands. "And do you think he'll tell us." Stephen and Susan shook their heads. "Yeah that's what I figured. Excuse me."

* * *

**TFS Achilles**

**Orbiting Rivendell, That Same Time**

Admiral Jacob Robyns finished carefully outlining the situation they were in with the probe to his assembled audience. Governor Alison Shepherd, Captain Aaron McKenzie and Lieutenant Michael Tayman were all silent for a few moments, digesting what they had just been told.

"We have to get the probe back," Alison said after a moment. "Who knows what anyone around here would do with it once they begin unlocking its secrets. We know from the distress call its transmitting that they have already tried to access it once."

"Yes but how," Robyns agreed. "How do we retrieve it without exposing ourselves? We have no idea at the moment how Babylon Five was able to capture the probe. Did they see through its cloaking device somehow or did something collide with the probe as it went about its business."

"Those are good questions, sir," McKenzie agreed. "To be honest sir I can only see two options. One we approach Babylon Five openly now and request politely that they return our probe. Two we go there under cloak and take it back."

"There is a third option, sir," Tayman said speaking up. "I could go to Babylon Five and beam the probe off before beaming in myself."

"That would mean bringing your mission timetable up a bit lieutenant," Jacob pointed out. "Are you ready for that?"

"All my implants are back operational sir, I'm ready," Tayman answered. "I would have preferred a bit more preparation time for the mission, but I see no alternative. If we launch the mission now then we have an excellent chance of retrieving the probe without anyone being any the wiser about its origins."

"There is also the danger that the more they play with it the more likely the people are on Babylon Five to blow themselves up," McKenzie agreed. "The probe is powered by liquid naquada cells; I hate to think what would happen if they started fooling around with that stuff without any clue how dangerous it can be."

"Good point," Jacob agreed with a sigh. "What about you Alison what do you think?"

"We don't really have a choice but to launch the mission now," Alison replied. "We have to retrieve the probe before something worse happens. But this is a military matter it is not my call to make."

"No its mine," Jacob replied before leaning back in his seat thoughtfully, mulling over the choices that were open to him. None of them were ideal, but as the others had pointed out they had no choice but to retrieve the probe. "Alright lieutenant we'll launch your mission, you're first objective will be to retrieve the probe and transport it back to the _Jutland_. How long do you need to be ready?"

"We need to finish synthesising some clothes in the style that we've observed on their ISN broadcasts," Tayman answered. "But that shouldn't take very long. I would say about two hours."

"Very well, finish synthesising the clothing and other equipment that you need. Captain McKenzie can the _Jutland_ be ready to leave orbit in two hours?"

"Easily sir," McKenzie replied.

"Then we'll do it. I'll order one of the scout ships be made ready."

"We have a lot of work to do and a short time to do it in," Alison said. "If there are no other issues to discuss then I suggest we get started."

"Agreed," Jacob replied. "Does anyone else have anything to say?" Nobody spoke; there was nothing to say that hadn't already been said. "Then let's going."

Accepting the dismissal for what it was, everyone stood up and filed out of the ready room. Most to get clear of the transporter suppression field around the critical areas of the _Achilles_ so they could transport either to Rivendell or the _Jutland._

Jacob followed them out of the ready room heading for the flag bridge; it would be that much easier to oversee the preparation of the scout ship from there than the ready room. He wasn't sure that this was the best course of action, launching the intelligence mission early, but he knew that they really did not have a choice. The capture of their probe made sure of that. _I just hope nothing more goes wrong,_ he thought, _let Tayman's mission go off without a hitch then we really start moving forward with our plan._

* * *

**Maintenance Bay**

**Babylon Five, A Few Minutes Later**

Michael Garibaldi arrived outside the maintenance bay and was not surprised to see the Vorlon ambassador still waiting patiently for access to the maintenance bay. Or appearing to give the appearance of waiting patiently, clad as he was in his encounter suit it was impossible to get any idea what the Vorlon was really feeling.

"Ambassador Kosh," he said in greeting bringing the Vorlons attention to him. The single green 'eye' of Kosh's suit studied him quietly without blinking. "My guys tell me you want to go in and see the probe." The head of the encounter suit angled slightly in affirmation. "Do you mind tell me why?"

"Confirmation," Kosh answered in his oddly musical voice. "The circle changes, confirmation is required."

Garibaldi looked at the Vorlon in confusion but no lack of surprise at the cryptic answers. The day he got a straight answer out of one of the enigmatic Vorlons was the day he decided to retire. "Of what," he asked.

"The past, the future," Kosh answered. Garibaldi scowled wishing that for once the Vorlon would come out and just say why he wanted to see the probe, not dance around it with the usual Vorlon cryptic word games.

"You know where it's from don't you," he said. "You know who built it." He wasn't surprised when he got no response from the Vorlon. "Fine, come on I'll show you the probe. I will warn you ambassador that the probe has proven itself to be dangerous. Are you sure you want to risk this?"

"Yes," Kosh answered not concerned about any short range weapons the probe had. The personal gravitic force shield built into his encounter suit would protect him should the probe fire at him for some reason. At least he believed it would, there was no way to know it depended on how Alteran technology had changed over the one and a half million years since there disappearance.

"Okay, this way," Garibaldi answered before leading the way into the maintenance bay nodding at the guards on duty to let the Vorlon past.

With a silent grace that seemed completely at odds with the massive size of his encounter suit Kosh glided in after him. Garibaldi could almost sense an air of expectation mixed with trepidation coming off the ambassador as they made their way through the bot maintenance area to the work bench where the probe had been laid out. Clearly the Vorlon knew a lot more about this probe, and its mysterious builders, than he was letting on.

The work bench came into view and Garibaldi immediately noticed that the probe had moved position. Its outermost ring was glowing a brilliant blue and it was floating suspended in the air almost one and a half metres above the surface of the bench. He also noticed that it seemed to be less damaged than before; some of the crumpled and torn metal at the base had disappeared and the base now looked brand new. Clearly the probe was somehow repairing itself. Weary of it, wondering what defence protocols might now be active he stopped his approach and heard Kosh come up beside him.

Kosh studied the probe carefully with both his suits optical scanners and the suits built in limited subspace sensor array. The probe had raised a surprisingly powerful force shield around itself so it was hard for the sensor to get reliable readings but the power signature was definitely naquada based and only the Alterans had ever perfected that technology. The design of the probe was definitely something they would have come up with as like modern Humans the Alterans had believed strongly in the saying 'form follows function' when it came to things like starships and space probes, the only time they had show elegance in starship design was with their flying cities. There was no doubt in Kosh's mind that the Alterans or someone very close to them, close enough to be trusted with their secrets, had returned to this galaxy.

"They have returned," he said aloud completing his scan and storing it ready for transmission to the homeworld as soon as he returned to his quarters and could commune with the commonality.

"Who, who has returned," Garibaldi asked. The eye of Kosh's encounter suit trained on him for a moment and he got the distinct impression that the Vorlon was trying to decide if it should tell him or not.

"You will see," Kosh said at last. "The circle changes, they will be coming." Then he turned and walked out leaving a very confused Michael Garibaldi behind him.

Garibaldi watched the retreating Vorlon until he was out of sight. He'd been right the Vorlons definitely knew something about that probe and had sent Kosh to investigate. What Kosh had said was a dead giveaway that they had encountered the probes builders – who he still believed to be the Tau'ri – before. _Though what did he mean by 'they have returned' and 'the circle changes, they will be coming'?_ he thought, _does he mean that the Tau'ri will be coming here? If they are then what will they want? I better go tell Jeff that we could have some company soon._

* * *

Kosh made his way through the corridors of Babylon Five towards the closest transport tube, moving with a haste that had various members of the younger races who saw him astonished. They were used to seeing the Vorlon moving with quiet, slow dignity to see a Vorlon moving quickly had them all engaging in an excited chatter, wondering what was going on. 

Kosh paid them no mind. His thoughts completely dominated by the confirmation that the Alterans – or someone so close to them that there was little difference – had returned after one and a half million years of silence. There return meant a time of great change could be coming for the empire, the first in thousands of millennia, and Kosh didn't know whether to be excited or terrified by the prospect of change. New paths, new options and opinions could change the circle out of all recognition. If they were careful enough then Kosh was sure the empire would be able to mould the changes in the circle to suit their goals and spite their ancient foes.

The transport tube appeared ahead and Kosh reached out with telekinetic force and triggered the summoning button. _We will adapt,_ Kosh thought, _and then we will have the final victory over the Shadows and the young ones will see that order and discipline is the true path to enlightenment._

* * *

**TFS Achilles**

**Two Hours Later**

Lieutenant Michael Tayman felt a shiver of anticipation run down his spine as the transporter beam released him in one of the dreadnoughts outer deck sections. In another few minutes he knew his mission would get underway and he was eager now to get started. It felt surprisingly good to be using his intelligence service training again, though it had only been a year it felt almost like a lifetime since his skills had been used. _If we ever get home I'll have to see about transferring from fleet back to military intelligence,_ he thought, _though fleet is great its not really what I am trained and equipped for._

He shook off those thoughts before they could start leading him to think of home, a home he like the others might never see again. Thanks to scuttlebutt – which was still the fastest form of communication known – he knew that Arwen and Rivendell's science teams had still had no luck understanding how they had been sent here. _Though it's not helping that all the dark matter in that galaxy really fowled up our sensors,_ he thought before walking forwards down one of the seemingly identical mass of corridors and cross-corridors that made up the interior of the great warship.

Despite the appearance of being a maze the _Achilles _interior was laid out in a very logical and precise grid pattern that was very easy to follow. In no time at all Michael was standing outside one of the entrances to the starboard hanger deck. The doors opened automatically letting him into the hanger bay.

The hanger was vast, the size of a football field and transcended several decks of the ship. One wall was the massive hanger bay doors, currently closed for safety though force fields would prevent anyone falling out into space. Hornet-class fighters and puddle jumpers sat in ready positions on the deck or on gantries on the various levels, technicians attending to them constantly making sure they were all ready to be used at a moments notice.

On the lowermost deck of the hanger were a number of larger craft and Michael made his way across the bustling space towards them, in particular he made for one craft. The scout ship he would be taking to Babylon Five was twice the size of a puddle jumper and a sleek delta-shape reminiscent of the old stealth fighters of Earth's twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Michael liked the look of her immediately.

Admiral Robyns was waiting for him when he arrived. "Ah lieutenant good," Jacob said seeing him approach. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, sir," Michael replied. "Though I must confess I am a little nervous."

Jacob smiled. "You wouldn't be human if you weren't," he answered. "This is a risky mission we're sending you on. Should something go wrong we would be forced to expose ourselves far sooner than we want to."

"I know sir; I'll do my best to make sure that the mission goes off without a hitch."

"I know you will, lieutenant."

"Any last minute instructions sir," Michael asked.

"No. Your ship is ready to leave, I just came down to wish you good luck in person," Jacob answered offering a hand.

Michael took the offered hand and the two men shook. "Thank you sir," Michael replied before the admiral released his hand.

"You're welcome," Jacob said. "I want keep you any further lieutenant, please board your ship. The _Jutland_ will meet you at the rendezvous point in the Epsilon Systems Oort cloud. The coordinates have been preloaded into the scout's navigational systems."

"Understood sir," Michael replied and offered a salute, Jacob returned it. Then Michael took a deep breath, let it out slowly and turned to his scout ship. The entrance was at the back, the ramp already lowered and the airlock open ready for him. A few steps later and he was inside, making his way through the habitation compartment to the cockpit.

The scout ships cockpit was small, with three workstations arranged in a triangular fashion. At the front was the pilot's station, to the right operations and weapons, with sensors and communication to the left. A control chair, a sleeker more modern version of a drone control chair, sat in the centre of the small bridge.

Without hesitation Michael walked up to the control chair and sat down, before putting his hands on the control surfaces on the chair. Instantly lights in the cockpit came on and he felt all important data about the ships systems enter his awareness. Closing his eyes he willed the airlock to close and the ramp to rise, in almost bullet time he felt it happen. Then he turned the flight controls on.

And suddenly it seemed like he was standing on the deck of the hanger again. Readings from the scout ships sensors registered on his awareness as a myriad of colours, aura's, shapes and tones. The interior of the hanger bay was shrouded with a faint bluish aura pervading the decking and gantries above, the artificial gravity field of the ship manifesting. People on the hanger deck registering as intense focuses of heat and bio signs that he could identify with a thought, fighters and other ships registering a solid voids that he could peel apart with his thoughts if he so desired.

With a thought he opened a communications link with flight control. "Scout ship one to flight control," he said the words seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. "Ready for departure clearance."

"Scout ship one, clearance granted," flight control answered. "Opening hanger bay door section four. You are clear to launch as soon as you have sufficient clearance."

Michael sensed the gathering of the atmospheric containment force field as a ripple of translucent white light racing across the hanger bay door. Then a section of the door thirty metres wide split open along the centre line before beginning to part, revealing the star filled blackness of open space beyond. With a speed that seemed out of all proportion for their massive size the section of the hanger door fully opened in moments.

Michael willed the antigravity jets of the scout ship to activate, lifting the vessel off the deck so to his perspective it seemed like he was floating in the air, like he would if the gravity system was switched off. With bursts from the gravitic ion sublight drives he guided the ship forward and eased out of the hanger bay, conscious of the fact that on his sides he had barely metres of clearance.

Then he was in space and he brought the sublight engines to full power, and he was flying away from the _Achilles._ Stopping he orientated himself and brought up the course for Babylon Five, it appeared in his vision as a series of rings expanding into infinity, focused on a distant star hundreds of light years away. _Here we go,_ he thought before activating the hyperdrive, a hyperspace window burst into existence ahead of him. A swirling vortex of energy that radiated millions of different shades of colour, with the first ring in the centre. He leapt forward into the window without hesitation and then he was flying, shooting through hyperspace towards his destination.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

_The Sinhindrea cruiser paused in its patrol route on the very edge of the galaxy that was the races home as its long range sensors picked up hyperspace windows opening just on the void side of the veil. A lot of hyperspace windows._

_Since the encounter with the powerful unknown inferiors the entire defence force had been on high alert. The lords convinced that more inferiors were coming to invade their sacred space. Carefully the cruiser reached out across space with its scanners and probed the opening windows. A truly massive fleet of unknown starships was returning to normal space. A considerable percentage of them matched the energy distribution profiles and propulsion signatures of the inferiors that had murdered so many Sinhindrea a few weeks earlier with their powerful weapons and shields that made them impervious to telepathic manipulation. There were many more warships this time, many of them the larger classes that had proven so difficult to destroy._

_And they weren't alone. There were at least two more very different types of warships present that had completely different energy and propulsion profiles, indicating that they belonged to different races of inferiors. One of the groups put out energy levels about equal and in the case of one ship slightly above that of the first group, but the other group put out less energy. There power emissions were not that much different to how much energy a standard heavy cruiser put out._

_The massive inferior's fleet had come to a dealt halt and was just sitting there in space, as if it were waiting for something. There was no doubt in the minds of the cruisers crew that the inferiors were planning an invasion, not accepting or respecting the fact that the Sinhindrea were power beyond comprehension, hunger beyond understanding._

_Knowing there duty the hunt master in command of the cruiser sent a message to the closest fleet base to alert them to the new danger, then directed that stealth systems be activated. Cautiously the cruiser made a short hyperspace jump so it was closer to the inferiors who dared to threaten violation of their space._

**

* * *

Flag Bridge**

**TFS Repulse**

Admiral Helena Hawkins studied the view of the dark matter galaxy directly ahead displayed on the high resolution screen at the front of the flag bridge. It didn't look like any galaxy that she had ever seen before; instead of being a mass of glowing lights it was an area of blackness, only a few shades lighter than the surrounding space. Blackness laced with strange glowing patches of red, blue or purple light, presumably from where stars were, veiled by the huge amounts of dark matter.

It was a strangely menacing site and she recalled what Daniel Jackson had said on the recording Odin showed her. About there being a dark, terrible malevolence present in the dark matter galaxy. Looking at the brooding mass barely three light years ahead of the fleet she could well believe it. _And we've got to search that place to find any sign of Rivendell and her escort fleet,_ she thought with a sigh, _this is not going to be easy. Even with a fleet this size and with Asgard assistance._

"Communications," she called out.

"Ma'am?" the lieutenant in charge of the bank of communications stations on the flag bridge asked.

"Hail the _General O'Neill_ and the _Bra'tac's Wisdom_," Helena ordered naming the commanding ships of the Asgard and Jaffa battle groups respectively. "Ask Supreme Commander Thor and Master Darnek would they mind transporting over to this ship, we have to plan our next move."

"Aye, ma'am."

"Admiral," sensors called out suddenly. "Sensors have detected an energy distortion opening bearing two one zero, mark one nine ten. Distance three point seven au. It looks like a hyperspace window, but we are not detecting a ship exiting. Wait we're picking up an echo leaving the window, but its too faint for our sensors to get a lock."

"Increase power to sensors," Helena ordered. "Configure sensor beams to anti-ECM protocols."

"Aye, ma'am," sensors replied mentally giving the orders to the console, while turning one of the crystalline control dials to a new position. "Sensor locks established one starship, size and weight indicates cruiser class, configuration and power signature unknown. There trying to remodulate their ECM to block our scans. I am matching them."

"Good. Communications open up a channel to the unknown vessel," Helena ordered. "Transmit standard first contact protocol and request they identify themselves."

"Aye, ma'am."

_

* * *

The hunt master in command of the Sinhindrea cruiser scowled as much as any member of the race could when the inferior's sensors penetrated their stealth systems with no trouble at all. All attempts to throw off the sensors we're being instantly countered by the sensors of the biggest ship, and now other inferior warships were adding their sensors to the first ships._

_Through his cyber link with the ship the hunt master knew the stealth system was being hopelessly overwhelmed by the attempts to adapt to the alien sensors. So he ordered it deactivated, their was no point in hiding now. The inferiors were trying to contact them, but their words we're not worthy of Sinhindrea audio slits, so he ignored them. The hunt master knew that the lives of his crew we're forfeit now, they'd proven themselves unable to fool the inferiors. And the lords did not accept failure. But their was still one thing they could do before they died either at inferiors claws or at the claws of their own kind. And that was to explain to the inferiors the power they were trifling with. _

_Gathering their strength the hunt master and his crew tapped into the subspace comm. system and using it to boost there telepathic strength, sent a wave of psychic force screaming across space towards the inferiors._

**

* * *

Flag Bridge**

**TFS Repulse**

"No response to our hails, admiral," communications reported to Helena Hawkins across the expanse of the flag bridge.

Helena frowned slightly, wondering why in the universe the unknown aliens were behaving in the way that they were. Approaching under the protection of surprisingly sophisticated ECM could be understood but ignoring attempts at peaceful contact made no sense at all. _Unless they can't hear us,_ she thought.

"Are they receiving us?" she asked.

"I'm getting a resonant response from their subspace comm. array, ma'am. So they can hear us but there just not responding."

"Damned odd," Helena said thoughtfully. "Or maybe they can't hear us clearly. Increase power to the communications array see if that gets a response."

"Aye, ma'am." Helena turned her attention back to the front screens and the alien ship now clearly displayed on them. It was a really strange design with the long tendrils at the front and the glowing globe of energy at the back. Its dark grey surface shimmered slightly and it had a distinct techno-organic look to it. Every line of it seemed to radiate hostility on some subconscious level and she couldn't help but wonder why that was.

She didn't have much time to think about it. For a moment later intense agony blasted through her skull, seemingly setting fire to her very thoughts. It reeked of darkness, hatred and terrible hunger. Helena shook violently in her seat, raising her hands and clutching at her temples she screamed in pain as the assault continued, seemingly boring right into her soul to infect it with its dark malevolence. Faintly from around her she heard her crew screaming as they to were subjected to the assault of psychic force she tried to martial her thoughts, to fight past the pain but it was impossible, if anything the pain got worse until she lost all touch with the conscious world, and her entire existence consisted of the pain.

* * *

Deprived of the controlling interfaces with their crews which was being disrupted by the psychic assault, the massive fleet of Tau'ri warships began falling out of formation. Ships veering off course, almost crashing into neighbouring ships be they Tau'ri, Asgard of Jaffa.

The Jaffa ships were not much better off. All the pyramid-shaped ships we're corkscrewing helplessly, two crashing into each other. An explosion blossomed between them and in seconds both colliding ships were consumed vanishing in a blinding explosion of plasma and energy.

**

* * *

Asgard Vessel General O'Neill**

Supreme Commander Thor stared at his holographic screen for a few moments in shock as the Tau'ri and Jaffa ships began falling out of formation for no apparent reason. Lights flickered widely on all the ships as they veered wildly out of control. He gave the Asgard equivalent of a wince when he saw two Jaffa motherships collide and vanish in a blinding explosion.

"Report," he ordered to the rest of the bridge crew. "What is happening?" As he spoke he felt the ship make a sharp manoeuvre to avoid a collision with a Tau'ri Proteus-class dreadnought that was tumbling end over end. A collision with one of those four kilometre long warships would have seriously damaged or even destroyed the _General O'Neill_ something Thor was acutely aware of.

"The unknown alien vessel is emitting some kind of broad spectrum carrier wave at the fleet, Supreme Commander," one of the bridge crew reported. "We are picking up mind-wave patterns imbedded in the carrier wave; computer analysis indicates that the alien ship is using a telepathic weapon of some-sort."

"Battle stations. Raise shields. Weapons target the alien ship," Thor ordered determined to deal with the ship that was hurting his allies in such an unconventional but effective way. "Fire a warning shot across their bow followed with a demand to stand down immediately or be destroyed."

"Yes, supreme commander."

_

* * *

The hunt master snarled viciously as he watched two of the groups of inferiors veer out of control under the psychic assault of his people's powerful minds. There weren't enough Sinhindrea on this ship to dominate their thoughts, but there were more than enough to bombard them with negative emotion. A weapon that in Sinhindrea experience was far more devastating than a plasma bolt._

_Though what was concerning was that the third group of inferiors remained unaffected, only moving to avoid collisions with their out of control brethren. Sensors showed that the subspace carrier was penetrating their hulls but that the crews within we're being unaffected, apparently having a natural immunity to the attack. _

_A change in the sensor readings caught the hunt masters attention. The largest ship in the unaffected group of inferiors had just raised its shields and its power emissions were shooting up to incredible levels. Though his cyber link the hunt master raised the cruisers own shields, a moment before the inferior fired. A brilliant blue white energy beam flashed past the bow in a clear warning shot, sensors reporting that the beam energy was so high that it would simply ignore their shields._

_The inferior was hailing them but rather than acknowledge the hunt master directed weapons to fire back. He watched as a pulse of red plasmatic death birthed from the ship and crossed the distance to the inferior's ship and impacting its shields. The inferior's shields flashed softly at the point of impact, easily absorbing the bolt of anti-proton based plasma._

**

* * *

Asgard Vessel General O'Neill**

Somehow Thor wasn't surprised when the alien vessel ignored his demand to stand down and instead responded to the warning shot by firing a bolt of plasma at his ship. The _General O'Neill_ barely shivered when the alien weapon impacted shields that were almost as strong as those on a Tau'ri cityship. _Fools,_ Thor thought sadly.

"Weapons," he ordered softly, sadly. "Destroy them."

"Yes, supreme commander."

Before the weapons officer could act on Thor's orders however a tremendous impact rocked the _General O'Neill_ knocking every Asgard on the ship off their feet or out of their control chairs. Alarms rent the air, alarms Thor recognised as a shield failure warning and the warning of a hull breach.

"Report," Thor ordered picking himself up off the deck and going back to his command throne.

"One of the Tau'ri cruisers just collided with us, supreme commander," one of the crew reported after staggering back to his seat. "Starboard shields are down, all remaining shields down to forty percent capacity. Hull ruptured in starboard sections ten through thirty four on all starboard decks. Collateral damage in all surrounding sections and main power has failed on all starboard decks. Casualty reports are flooding in, medical crews are responding."

"Get damage control teams down their immediately," Thor ordered. "What is the status of the Tau'ri cruiser that collided with us?"

"They have sustained heavy damage to the front third of their ship on all decks, supreme commander. Severe collateral damage all over the ship, reading multiple hull ruptures all across the cruiser, all the cruisers systems appear to be failing, there loosing life support."

"Beam all survivors over to this ship immediately," Thor ordered a moment before the _General O'Neill_ shook again. "What was that?"

"The alien ship supreme commander," weapons reported. "They just fired on us again."

"Destroy them now," Thor ordered as another blast shook the ship.

"Yes supreme commander."

Thor kept his eyes on the screen as a second particle disruptor beam flashed out from one of the _General O'Neill's_ primary port weapons arrays. The beam reached the alien ship instantly and simply ignored the aliens defence shields and sliced into the hull just on the bow, the weapon energy immediately spreading out to envelop the ship.

For a second out of time the alien ship seemed to shudder, its entire hull illuminated by the deadly nuclear disruptive effect of the Asgard beam weapon. Then an explosion erupted from the energy globe and consumed the alien ship in an instant. When the glow of the explosion faded away the alien warship was gone, disintegrated so completely that not even dust remained.

"Status of Tau'ri and Jaffa vessels," Thor ordered.

"They've stopped moving, supreme commander," sensors reported. "All Tau'ri and Jaffa ships are adrift, engines appear to be completely shut down."

"Hail the _Repulse _and the _Bra'tac's Wisdom_," Thor instructed and waited for a response.

"No response supreme commander."

"Sensors are their life signs?"

"Confirmed supreme commander. All life signs are still registering on our scanners; however they appear to be unconscious."

"Supreme commander, medical has reported in," another of the bridge crew reported. "All Tau'ri survivors from the ship we collided with are unconscious. They all have serious injuries from the collision but also seem to be something from some kind of mental shock that's disrupted their neural pathways. They will recover however."

"Message to all Asgard ships. Dispatch emergency assistance teams to all key Tau'ri and Jaffa warships. All ships to tow our allies back into formation and then deploy to form a defensive perimeter."

"Yes, supreme commander," came the response from multiple stations around the bridge.

Thor left his crew to their tasks and turned his attention back to the holographic screen floating in front of him, which was still focused on the position of the alien ship they'd just destroyed. He couldn't help but wonder if the unknown aliens were the dark malevolence that Daniel Jackson had warned him about. It was possible, especially given how they had launched such an unusual but obviously devastating attack on the Tau'ri and Jaffa for no apparent reason. An attack that had also claimed some Asgard lives as there were dozens of duty stations in the sections of the _General O'Neill_ that had been ripped open to space faster than emergency systems could react. Dozens of Asgard were now dead and his flagship had sustained considerable damage, damage that the crew would repair especially in conjunction with the automatic repair systems, though it would take sometime for them to do so.

_Whoever those aliens are they have made an enemy of the Asgard, Tau'ri and Jaffa this day,_ Thor thought knowing his allies and his people would never let such an unprovoked and unusual attack and such deaths go unavenged. _I will have to discuss the matter with Admiral Hawkins and Master Darnek when they are back on their feet. This is going to change many of the directives for our mission to this dark matter galaxy._

In the meantime though Thor was determined to protect the suddenly vulnerable Tau'ri and Jaffa warships with every means at the disposal of his fleet. If the unknown aliens returned with hostile intentions then they had better pray for mercy from whatever gods they worshiped.

For they would get none from the Asgard.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**TFS Jutland**

**Epsilon Eridani, That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie resisted the impulse to get out of his command chair and start pacing around the bridge, as he waited for Lieutenant Tayman's scout ship to arrive. With its far slower hyperspace speed it was taking seemingly forever for the young intelligence officer to arrive at these coordinates. They had already been here for nearly an hour, hanging silent under the protection of the ships cloaking device in the Oort cloud at the edge of the system. And he wasn't very comfortable about being out here, the ring of asteroids, dust and comets was a nightmare to navigate – and many of the larger objects were more than big enough to cause serious damage to the _Jutland_ should one of them hit her before they could decloak and raise shields.

After a moment he sighed and glanced at the main screen again, showing nothing but the masses of material drifting in an eternal silent dance around the _Jutland_. The cloud around them was quite dark and forbidding, lit only feebly by the distant star. Out here they were safe from all possibility of detection by Babylon Five or any of the ships that filled the system as they came and went from the space station. _Hopefully we won't have to stay here long,_ he thought, _if Tayman can confirm that Babylon Five can't detect us we'll be able to move in closer._ Until then he would have to swallow his discomfort and just accept his ship sitting here in the darkness.

At that moment the sensor station chirped for attention. "Captain, sensors are picking up a hyperspace window opening two hundred thousand metres to starboard," the officer on duty reported.

"Show me," Aaron instructed.

Immediately the view screen changed view slightly to a view of a hyperspace window bursting into existence, the force of the vortices appearance sending surrounding particles of dust and gas into a swirling frenzy. From the centre of the window a small ship came back into normal space, decelerating sharply to a safe speed before coming to a dead halt. The hyperspace window folded in upon itself and vanished as if it had never been present at all, returning peace to the Oort cloud.

"Hail that ship," Aaron ordered resisting the impulse to smile in relief. Lieutenant Tayman was here at last, now things could get moving.

"Aye, sir," the communications officer answered before mentally giving the command to his console. "Lieutenant Tayman has acknowledged the hail, response coming in." As the officer spoke the view screen changed again to show the head and shoulders of Lieutenant Michael Tayman sitting in the central control chair on the scout ships small bridge.

"Lieutenant," Aaron said. "Welcome to Epsilon Eridani."

"Thank you, sir," Tayman answered his voice sounding slightly distracted, that coupled with the giveaway look in his eyes told Aaron that Tayman was using the neural interface capabilities of the chair to control the ship. "I'm ready to begin my mission, sir," Tayman continued. "Are there any last minute instructions?"

"No lieutenant. Good luck and I hope to see you soon with the probe in your possession. When you retrieve it bring it here immediately, the sooner its back in the safety of our hands the better."

"Aye sir, retrieving the probe will by my first objective, along with trying to figure out how Babylon Five detected it in the first place."

"Good. Hopefully we will hear from you soon, lieutenant."

"As soon a possible, sir," Tayman answered before breaking the connection from his end. The view of the scout ship returned, the small vessel already changing its position and beginning to move away. After a moment its outline blurred and the ship vanished from all bar the _Jutland's_ tracking systems as Tayman activated his cloaking device.

"Track him to Babylon Five," Aaron ordered, knowing that the _Jutland's_ tracking sensors were easily capable of crossing the distance between here and the huge O'Neill space station over the third planet. "Lets make sure the lieutenant gets their safely."

"Aye, sir."

"Communications send a subspace data burst transmission to Admiral Robyns and Governor Shepherd. Advise them that Lieutenant Tayman has arrived at Epsilon Eridani and is proceeding to Babylon Five."

"Aye, sir."

As his crew scrambled to carry out his orders Aaron returned his attention to the screen at the front of the bridge. _Good luck lieutenant,_ he thought to Tayman though he knew the lieutenant couldn't hear him, _something tells me you are going to need it._

* * *

**The Great Machine**

**Epsilon 3, That Same Time**

Draal frowned slightly as the Great Machine's sensors reported a second large subspace distortion in the Oort cloud. He had almost missed the one that had appeared there earlier, and probes with his sensors had revealed nothing there. As the distortion faded away he turned the full sensitivity of the Great Machine's subspace sensors on the area.

Again he found nothing. The sensors did not detect the presence of any spacecraft of any size or description, though the fading echo of distortion triggered a reaction from the machines vast data banks. With a thought he scanned through the data and felt a quiver of surprise run through his physical body. It was the signature of a very advanced and different form of jump point, a jump point that exploited a very different form of hyperspace technology. Technology that the Great Machine's builders had only the most basic of knowledge of, along with knowledge of the only known race to have developed it, a race that had been gone so long that there were not even legends of their existence any longer among most modern space faring races.

And that race was called Alteran.

Draal carefully reviewed what information the Great Machine had on them. It made for a very slim file, all that was really known were four things. The name of the species, the fact that they had walked the stars of this and other galaxy with the First Ones and by all accounts had been one of the greatest and most mysterious as they had no homeworld, no place of origin they had just appeared from nowhere. That they appeared incredibly like Humans, and that just over one and a half million years ago they just disappeared. They hadn't been destroyed in a war, or by a plague, they had just vanished, taking all of their incredible knowledge and technology with them. The other First Ones, including the Vorlons and Shadows, had searched for them but had found no trace of them. They had just disappeared as if they had never been present at all.

Draal frowned thoughtfully as he reviewed the limited data, it was not particularly helpful. In fact it only deepened the mystery of the distortion that he had spotted. If the Alteran race was long gone either extinct or disappeared somewhere else, then who had made the distortion that was so like the little information on their hyperspace technology.

A chime sounded inside his head as the Great Machines sensors picked up ships moving in hyperspace, getting closer to this system. That was nothing unusual and normally Draal knew the machine would ignore it, but something was unusual about these movements. When he investigated Draal felt a shiver of shock run through his physical body.

The ships were Vorlon.

There were four of them travelling in formation together on direct course for Babylon Five. They would be here very shortly at the speed they were travelling. _In Valen's name what is going on,_ Draal thought. _Why are more Vorlons coming to Babylon Five?_

For a moment he contemplated warning the orbiting space station about the incoming ships. But he discarded the idea, the Vorlons would be here far too soon for his warning to make any difference. And it was no real concern of his, now was not the time for the Great Machine to play its part in what was to come.

Still he tasked one of the Great Machines sensors to keep an eye on events aboard Babylon Five. He couldn't shake the feeling that something momentous was coming, and that the space station would be in the middle of it.

He just wished he knew what it was. Around him the Great Machine hummed and pulsed in seeming agreement.

* * *

**Lieutenant Tayman's Scout Ship**

**A Few Minutes Later**

With his thoughts Lieutenant Michael Tayman guided his scout ship ever closer to Babylon Five, while keeping a cautious eye on his cloaking device. While the cloaking device on the scout ship was more advanced than the cloak the probe had been equipped with he wasn't about to take chances. Not until they knew how the probe had been detected in the first place.

In no time at all he entered the orbital plane of the third planet of the system, the planet the great space station orbited. He paid close attention to the planet, shrouded as it was by a form of stealth technology that had phased tachyons into subspace producing a powerful but relatively crude sensor scattering field. In his minds eye he perceived the field as a halo of diffuse green light surrounding the planet, preventing all bar basic surface and subsurface scans from the local powers. His scout ships sensors though had no problems penetrating the stealth field and noticing the immense machines buried beneath the surface.

He was careful to only probe the planet lightly, on a far higher scanning band than what the probe had been capable of using, he was only mildly curious about it and knew to be weary. Especially as the probe data indicated that the planet had surprisingly powerful subspace scanners, though they were crude by Tau'ri standards, though the raw power and reach of the scan field was impressive. He didn't want to take the risk of the hidden machine complex detecting his presence.

After barely a minute of examining the planet he shifted his focus to Babylon Five, he was barely three hundred thousand kilometres from the space station now. And he could really get a good idea of the stations vastness, while smaller than a cityship or a major fleet star base Babylon Five was immense. Five miles long and nearly a mile tall the stations size was impressive, though what impressed Michael more was the fact that the station had no artificial gravity and used centrifugal force to simulate gravity.

He brought his scout ship to a halt, hiding in the sensor shadow of one of the many ships waiting in a holding pattern around the O'Neill habitat, and allowed himself a few moments to just appreciate the facility, and the engineering skills that had to have gone into its construction. Though the technology was centuries behind his own peoples Michael felt a twinge of admiration for the people who had designed and constructed the space based mega structure. And he knew not to underestimate them; anyone who could build something this enormous would not be without very considerable resources.

After a few moments he turned his attention back to his mission and directed the short range sensors to scan Babylon Five for the probe. Invisible beams reached out across the gulf between him and the station and began probing it, peeling back each level like the skin on an onion until they reached the hollow central core. In seconds he had located the probe; it was located in a bay near the stations four metre thick outer hull. The sensors revealed the probe had its shields up and was at full defensive readiness, obviously someone had tried to open it and it had been active enough to engage the security protocols programmed into the very molecules of the crystalline lattices that were its processor and memory centres.

With a thought he sent an interrogative transmission to the probe. The subspace comm. signal easily penetrating the stations skin to reach the probe instantaneously. There was no response, and his physical body sighed in annoyance. Though a number of systems appeared to be back online the probes communication system didn't appear to be one of them, though its short range homing beacon seemed to be on, though very weak and muffled. That was going to make retrieval that bit more difficult, he had been hoping to simply beam it aboard but that was obviously out of the question now. He couldn't transport it when its shield was up, he would have to go aboard and manually get the probe to lower its shield.

_Why can things never be easy,_ he thought in annoyance before focusing his attention on the propulsion system again. He eased the scout ship out of the sensor shadow of the transport ship and threaded his way through the bustling traffic around the station till he reached the hull. Picking a location on the rotating cylinder he gently set down and ordered it to latch on. Unobserved by anyone the nano-bonding material lining the underside of the docking clamps sent millions of nanites into the matrix of the metal beneath, establishing a solid fusion between themselves and Babylon Five's hull that only the nano-bonding surfaces themselves could break.

The confirmation of a hard lock established shot through Michael's brain at the speed of light and he powered down as many systems as he could, though he kept the cloaking device active. Then he disengaged the neural interface and with a jolt found himself back in his body, and immediately felt his muscles complaining about being stuck in the same position for the three hours it had taken him to get here from Rivendell. _One problem with flying entirely by neural interface,_ he thought standing up and going through some quick tai chi moves to loosen up his muscles, _you get muscle cramps after awhile._

As his muscles slowly stopped complaining about being cramped up, Michael made his way over to the communications panel and placed a hand on the interface surface and mentally directed it to open a secure channel to the _Jutland._ Almost immediately a small holographic screen showing the face of Captain McKenzie appeared in front of him.

"Yes, lieutenant," McKenzie asked looking surprised to hear from him again so soon.

"Sir, there is a complication with retrieving the probe," Michael reported to him.

"What kind of problem?"

"I've scanned Babylon Five and confirmed that the probe is still intact and is repairing itself slowly. However its got its shields up and defence protocols appear to be active, my guess is they tried to open it. I tried sending an interrogative signal to the probe but it will not respond."

"Meaning you cannot beam it aboard immediately," McKenzie summarised.

"That is correct, sir. I'm going to have to physically go aboard Babylon Five and make my way to where the probe is being kept. I'll have to manually lower the probes shield and attach a beacon so it can be transported."

"Oh terrific, they're bound to be guarding the probe."

"I realise that, sir. Its going to make the risk of exposure that much higher, but we don't have a choice. Its either I do this or we just leave the probe in the hands of Earth Alliance."

"Which is completely unacceptable as they have no idea how dangerous the probes technology could be if they just blindly played around with it," McKenzie said then sighed. "Alright, lieutenant. Carry on with your mission. I'll inform Admiral Robyns and Governor Shepherd of the complication."

"Yes, sir."

"Good luck, lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir. I'm going to need it."

The _Jutland's_ master nodded and broke the connection from his end. As the holographic screen evaporated into nothingness Michael withdrew his hand from the console and headed into the aft compartment to gather the equipment he would need, equipment that had been specifically designed to appear inconspicuous and give no signs of what it truly was or what it could do.

In a few moments he was ready, and with only a twinge of pre-mission jitters Michael returned to the scout ships bridge and tapped a command into the operations console. Instantly he felt a tingle over his body and the interior of the transport disappeared in a white flash as the transporter beam took a hold of him.

When the flash of the beam faded he was standing in a darkened area, with boxes, crates and all manner of debris all around him. Faintly he could hear water dripping and he wrinkled his nose slightly at the smell, the smell of unwashed Human bodies and other things. Things he didn't want to think about. He'd chosen this location for his beam in site as the population density in this part of the station seemed very low, now he guessed why. He recognised a slum when he saw one; he'd seen them on a number of planets across multiple galaxies.

Gripping the metallic business case he'd brought with him as part of his chosen cover a little tighter he started walking. There was a lift a few sections away, from there he would be able to access the rest of the station.

As Michael left the room, two Humans – dressed in surprisingly smart clothes for their location – stepped out of the shadows of the room. They nodded to each other and one spoke quickly into a small comm. link, then they began to follow their chosen victim.

* * *

**Command and Control**

**That Same Time**

Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova felt like screaming in frustration as she glared at the screen on her console. She had only been on duty for an hour and already her shift was turning into a shift from hell. The docking schedule was in a mess – once again, and as usual she had to deal with waiting and increasingly impatient cargo and transport ship captains. And every one of them believed they had a priority reason for docking right now this instant, never mind that all the bays – save for the ones reserved for diplomatic transports, were full.

With a sigh of resignation Susan started to reach out to use the console comm. Hopefully the dock workers would have some good news for her, something to give her a ray of sunshine today. But before her hand could touch the device a bleeping from the console pit behind and below her caught her attention.

"Lieutenant Commander," one of the technicians on duty called out. Susan immediately spun around and leaned on the rail.

"Yes," she asked.

"Internal sensors just recorded a short but extremely intense energy burst."

Susan frowned slightly. Could it be the alien probe they were holding be the source of the energy burst, especially as Garibaldi had informed her that the probe seemed to be repairing itself. "Source," she asked.

"Its hard to get a precise fix," the young female officer answered. "The burst was far to brief, but it came from somewhere in down below. Close to transport tube number six, but I cannot be more precise."

"Contact, Mr Garibaldi," Susan instructed. "Have him send some people down there to investigate."

"Aye, sir."

As the junior officer set about her task, Susan turned back to her console and reached for the comm. again. Only for circumstances to once more intervene as from behind her came another chime, this one indicating something completely different.

"Jump gate activated," Lieutenant Junior Grade David Corwin called out from the far side of C & C. "Multiple ships coming through."

"Impossible there is no one due now," Susan exclaimed bringing up the feed from the security sentry bot stationed near the jump gate.

Sure enough energy raced down the jump gate struts and discharged opening a blue incoming vortex. The moment the jump point opened to its full capacity it disgorged four ships in rapid succession before folding closed again and vanishing as if it had never been present.

Susan's mouth went dry as her startled mind identified the ships that had so unexpectedly turned up. All four of them were Vorlon ships, three being personal transport ships like the one Ambassador Kosh took back and forth to the Vorlon Homeworld. But it was the forth Vorlon ship that sent a chill down her spine.

The forth ship was one of the most powerful vessels in space.

It was a Vorlon star dreadnought.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**Command and Control**

**Babylon Five**

Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova stood frozen in place with shock, staring at the screen and the newly arrived Vorlon ships. Especially the beautiful but deadly squid-like form of the star dreadnought. The other three Vorlon ships maintained a triangular formation around it, but none of them seemed to be moving. Their was certainly no energy surges racing along their tendrils to gather into a ball of destructive power at the tip, so whatever the Vorlons were here for it was not aggression.

With effort she shook off her surprise. "Get the commander up here," she ordered. "Then contact the Vorlon dreadnought and request they explain their presence here."

"Aye, sir," Corwin replied.

Susan turned her attention back to her computer screen and the four Vorlon vessels. They were a very intimidating sight, especially as she knew full well that each ship had weapons capable of destroying the station without breaking a sweat.

"Lieutenant Commander we're getting a reply from the Vorlon dreadnought," Corwin reported. "Audio only."

"Put it through," Susan ordered a moment before the speakers crackled to life.

"The mountain means no harm," a voice underlined by musical tones said. Susan rolled her eyes slightly at the typically cryptic Vorlon statement though she relaxed slightly at what she believed to be the assurance that the small but deadly Vorlon fleet meant them no harm. _If only the Vorlons would speak in plain English for once,_ she thought.

"Babylon Control to Vorlon vessel," she said. "Please state your reason for being here."

"They have returned," the musical voice responded. "They are coming; the mountain must be ready to greet the wind." Susan scowled slightly wondering what in the world the Vorlons meant. _Are they referring to the Tau'ri,_ she wondered. _Are they coming here and the Vorlons are coming to greet them?_

"Who," Susan asked. "Who is coming?"

For a moment there was silence and she began to wonder if the Vorlons were going to answer her, though she would not be surprised if they did not. Finally another transmission came from the dreadnought.

"The mysterious ones, the great ones," the Vorlon answered. "We request docking."

Susan was about to reply when she heard the door to C & C open, a quick glance back over her shoulder showed Commander Jeffery Sinclair coming in, looking slightly out of breath obviously having run from the transport tube.

"Vorlon commander please hold," she said and pressed the control to put the comm. link with the commander of the Vorlon warship on hold. Then she turned to face the commanding officer and military governor of the space based, mismatched community of quarter of a million sentient life forms that was Babylon Five.

"Status report," Sinclair ordered.

"The Vorlon ships are holding station, commander," Susan replied. "Their weapons systems are not powered; they are requesting permission to dock."

"Did they say why they are here?"

"Apparently they have come here to wait for someone, they'd said only that 'they are coming'," Susan answered. "And implied in typical Vorlon fashion that they have to be here to greet them."

"Ambassador Kosh said something similar to Michael earlier when he saw the probe," Sinclair said thoughtfully. "Something is going on, something that has the Vorlons behaving in a away that no one on this station has ever seen before. It has to have something to do with that alien probe."

"A probe that is very likely to be Tau'ri in origin," Susan added. "What should we do about the Vorlons?"

"Grant them permission to dock in Bay 13," Sinclair ordered. "And please ask the dreadnought to withdraw from Babylon Five space. Remind them that the Babylon Charter forbids the presence of warships near the station." _Though no one obeys that part of the charter most of the time, _he thought remembering the two instances in recent months when warships both Human and alien had been well within firing range of Babylon Five in direct defiance of the charter.

"Aye, sir," Susan replied and turned to her attention to her console to relay the order to the Vorlons.

Jeffrey Sinclair looked past her, through the observation dome windows at the space around his station, especially he looked at the Vorlon vessels. It was pretty obvious by now that the enigmatic aliens knew far more about the probes mission – whatever it was – here than they were letting on. Whatever it was they knew it had been persuasive enough for more Vorlons than had ever been seen in one place before to gather at Babylon Five, and bring one of their near invincible warships with them.

It generated a profound feeling of unease in the pit of his stomach. Something was coming, he could feel it. It was like the feeling you got when a storm was brewing beyond the horizon, a feeling of tension like the universe was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. And whatever that something was he was sure that Babylon Five was going to be right in its path. Whatever it was, whatever was going to happen he knew as sure as he breathed that it had something to do with the probe and the mysterious but obviously powerful Tau'ri.

"Commander," Susan's voice said making Jeffery Sinclair blink.

"Yes lieutenant commander?"

"The Vorlons are coming in to dock," Susan reported. "The dreadnought has launched some kind of shuttle pod that is also coming in to dock in Bay 13. The ship is now moving back towards the jump gate."

"Good. You have the con lieutenant commander. I'm heading down to Bay 13 to greet our surprise guests. Hopefully they will be willing to provide some answers."

"Good luck," Susan replied. "Though if they do provide answers I doubt they'll be understandable, you know what the Vorlons are like."

"True," Jeff answered before leaving C & C in the capable hands of his first officer and making for the closest transport tube. He hoped that the Vorlons would provide some explanation for their uncharacteristic behaviour, but after having dealt with Ambassador Kosh for so long he wasn't at all sure they would.

* * *

**Down Below**

**That Same Time**

Lieutenant Michael Tayman knew that he was being followed. Whoever his tails were they were obviously reasonably professional, their shoes made only the faintest noise on the deck plates as they walked. A normal person would not have heard the movements at all, but his audio enhancement implants made the sounds perfectly clear to him. And from what he could tell there were three more people coming at him from ahead as well.

Quiet as a mouse he slipped behind a stack of metal packing crates and raised his right arm and sent a mental command to the seemingly harmless watch he wore there. Silently the watch changed, morphing into a small disruptor pulse emitter. At the same time a small amulet hidden under his shirt started glowing green and a form hugging force field rippled into existence around him, shimmering green for a moment before going invisible.

After a few moments of patiently waiting two men appeared from around the corner, followed seconds later by three more people from the other end of the hallway; the end that was between his position and the lift. All five men were surprisingly well dressed for their location, their furtive matter screamed crooks – well organised ones – to his experienced eyes.

"Where the hell is he," the shortest of the five men demanded in an authoritive tone that marked him as the leader of this particular band of bad guys.

"We don't know boss," one of the two men who'd pursued him replied. "He was walking towards the transport tube and just vanished."

"That's ridiculous people don't just vanish into thin air," the leader answered. "Split up search behind every crate between here and the transport tube, he can't have gotten far and when we find him he's going to pay for trying to elude us."

Michael resisted the impulse to laugh knowing that these crooks would never find him unless he allowed them to. Still he didn't have time to play hide and seek with them, and he couldn't really risk using his personal cloaking device yet – not until they knew how the probes had been penetrated.

"I'm right here," he said stepping out from his hiding place keeping his disruptor ready. Startled the five crooks spun towards him drawing small weapons from hidden quick-draw holsters as they did so. The small hand weapons made an odd whooshing, hissing sound as they powered up.

"Well, well, well what do we have here," the leader sneered pointing his PPG right at Michael's head. "We know you are more than you appear my friend. Jacob and Duke here saw your dramatic appearance."

"Oh really," Michael replied but inwardly cursed to himself in several different languages including Goa'uld/Tok'ra/Jaffa and Ancient. He was sure there hadn't been any life forms in the part of this section he'd beamed into, nothing bigger than the odd rat anyway. _Must be slipping Mike,_ he thought to himself, _next time scan more thoroughly._

"Yes and if you want us to keep quiet about what my men saw you're going to have to pay us whatever we want," the leader replied with a grin, around him his men also grinned.

Michael rolled his eyes. "I don't think so," he said. "I know your type; I've seen your kind so many times before on so many worlds across the length of the known universe. I'm not giving you anything. Plus I'm sure station security is after you guys."

"Fine then you can die," the leader said. "We'll then take what we want from your cold, dead body. Either way we'll win."

"Hardly you can't do anything to me," Michael replied. "And I could kill or disable you right where you stand."

"Oh yeah," the leader said and altered his aim slightly and fired one shot at Michael's right shoulder. A bolt of red plasma blasted from the muzzle of the PPG with the usual snapping whoosh, it flew through the air right at an unblinking Michael Tayman. And slammed into his personal shield which momentarily shimmered with translucent green light as it absorbed and dispersed the energy of the weapon.

"Holy…" the leader spluttered in shock as Michael trained his arm on him.

"Nighty night," Michael replied with a smile and willed his disruptor to fire a heavy stun shot. A pulse of translucent blue light spat from the tip of his arm and smashed into the startled rouge before he could react, and spread out over his body. Instantly the man dropped to the deck like a puppet with cut strings as the energy of the weapon disrupted his nervous system.

Startled and fearful for their lives, but also angry at what Michael had done to their leader, the other four men opened fire. Four pulses of hot red plasma flew from their weapons, only to splutter out in an ineffective ripple of green light as they impacted on the intelligence officer's personal shield. Michael fired back and in four quick pulses of disruptive energy later the other remaining four criminals had joined their leader in unconsciousness on the deck.

"Next time choose your target more carefully," he said to the unconscious men as he lowered his arm and the disruptor pulse emitter morphed back into an ordinary looking wrist watch. With a thought he disengaged his personal shield, making his necklace stop glowing green. It was just as well this had ended when it did he knew, the miniature capacitor in his necklace would not have been able to power the shield for much longer. As it was he would not be able to use the shield again for an hour, until the capacitor regained full charge from the miniaturised naquada power cell.

For a few moments he studied the five downed crooks, considering what to do with them. The fact that they had seen his beam in complicated matters; though he doubted anyone would believe them should they say anything. Observations previously sent back to Rivendell by the probe seemed to confirm that no one around here had ever heard of transporter beams. And indeed would be more likely to consider such a technology a thing of science fiction. _Still I cannot take a chance,_ he thought with a sigh.

A faint bleep followed by a swish registered on his augmented hearing, followed a moment later by two sets of running footsteps approaching his location. _Great now what,_ he thought before ducking back behind the stack of crates. A moment before two men in almost featureless grey uniforms appeared from the other end of the corridor, paused in shock seeing the five unconscious crooks, then raced forward pulling out their small weapons in the process. As before he heard the weapons emit a whooshing, hissing sound as they powered up.

One of the two men pressed a button on a device that was on the back of his wrist. "Emergency medical to down below section seven," he said. "Five men down, no visible signs of injury."

Michael watched them intently from his hiding place, the two men appeared to be professional, while one spoke into his communications device the other stood guard his weapon at the ready. He would have a great deal of difficulty getting past them, their manner screamed 'security' to him, and well trained security at that. _Great what else can go wrong on this mission,_ he thought with a mental sigh. He couldn't stay here waiting for security to move on, that would be an unacceptable delay to his mission to retrieve the probe, he could see only one way to get out of his current circumstance without the security officers spotting him. But it meant using the one thing he hadn't wanted to use yet, not till after the probe had been recovered and the _Jutland_ had had chance to pull its most recent sensor records.

Reluctantly – hoping that the station's internal sensors weren't advanced enough to penetrate it – he carefully opened his case, the frictionless hinges opening without even the faintest of sounds and took out his personal cloaking device. Like all the technology he had with him it had been specifically designed not to appear technological at all, or at least not appear to be what it actually was. After slipping the device over his free left wrist he closed his case back up and sent a mental command to the personal cloaking device. For a moment nothing happened then had anyone been looking straight at him they would have seen small crystals set into the band on his left wrist light up followed by a ripple of optical distortion around his form, right before man and case vanished completely from view.

Cautiously Michael stepped out of his hiding place, so he came into plain view of the two security officers. Neither reacted to his presence and Michael resisted the impulse to sigh in relief, before quietly slipping past the two men and resuming his journey down the hallway. _So far so good,_ he thought as he rounded the corner leaving the unconscious criminals and the two security guards in his wake.

* * *

**Bay Thirteen**

**A Few Minutes Later**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair was not surprised to find Ambassador Kosh already present when he arrived at the customs area for Bay Thirteen. He had expected that Kosh would be here, indeed the Vorlon ambassador had probably known those ships were coming. _It would have been nice for him to tell me though,_ he thought, _unexpected arrivals, especially high level diplomatic ones, really muck up our docking schedule._

"Greetings, commander," Kosh said as he sensed Sinclair's presence in the room. With deliberate slow grace he turned to face the Human who played such a pivotal role in the circle. He would miss Sinclair when he left this place to take his next step on the special path that was his unique destiny. A destiny that had already bound the Humans and Minbari together in ways that neither race was had really begun to comprehend or understand yet, though they would in time.

"Ambassador," Sinclair replied with a polite bow of his head. "Do you mind telling me what this is about? Why a number of your ships have shown up out of the blue like this?"

Kosh considered how to answer for a moment. "They have returned," he said at last. "The circle is changed."

Sinclair frowned at the typical Vorlon speak. "Who has returned," he asked the Vorlon. "Are you referring to the Tau'ri?"

"The leopard cannot change its spots," Kosh answered though he was a little surprised to hear the different name. But he supposed he shouldn't be, the Alterans had regularly used or allowed others to use different names for them. "They have returned, they are coming, the mountain must be ready," he continued.

"The Tau'ri are coming here then?" Sinclair asked hoping he interpreting the cryptic Vorlon words correctly and that the mysterious Tau'ri – a race that the Vorlons obviously knew about unlike everyone else – we're coming to Babylon Five.

"Yes," Kosh confirmed, it was the most logical thing for the Alterans or the Tau'ri if that was what they had taken to calling themselves now to do. The presence of the probe had already confirmed to him that they had recognised the importance of Babylon Five and would show up eventually. If they weren't here already, working behind the scenes, the fact that they looked identical to Humans would make them difficult to track. Though it would be unprecedented for them to be so secretive, never in collective knowledge of the Vorlon race had the Alterans behaved in such a subtle, secretive fashion.

Kosh could tell that the Human was about to speak again when a telepathic communication from his ship alerted him that the other transports and the dreadnoughts shuttle had completed docking. Four fellow Vorlons – one of them radiating the immense wisdom and telepathic strength of a member of the Emperors Council – were disembarking their ships now.

"Follow," he said to Sinclair starting forward to greet his fellow Vorlons. A moment later the hatch to the bay itself opened and the first Vorlon came through dressed in the slightly smaller and lighter coloured encounter suit of a female of his race. Following behind came three Vorlons in almost identical encounter suits to the one Kosh himself wore, indicating they were all males; the only differences were in the colours of their sensor eyes. One had a blue eye, another red and the third was gold.

"Greetings," Sinclair said stepping forward feeling a profound sense of awe at being in the presence of four more Vorlons. This close he couldn't help but feel the waves of intelligence, wisdom and great age that came off the encounter suited, enigmatic aliens. "Welcome to Babylon Five," he continued. "I am Commander Jeffery Sinclair."

"Greetings, commander," the smallest Vorlon answered in a lyrical tone that sounded slightly more musical than Ambassador Kosh's voice. "We require rest."

"Of course, I will arrange for quarters in the alien sector to be made ready for you," Sinclair replied. "It will take sometime to set the environmental systems correct for your species. In the meantime you probably have much to talk about amongst yourselves."

"Yes," Kosh agreed.

"Very well, I would however like you to answer one question before you go off to Ambassador Kosh's chambers. Are the Tau'ri coming to Babylon Five?"

For a moment the other four Vorlons looked silently at Sinclair while Kosh hurriedly filled the others in on the belief he had that the Tau'ri and the Alterans were one and the same. Finally after seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity the female Vorlon spoke again.

"Yes," she said.

Then all five Vorlons began moving, filing slowly out of the bay with the calmness and grace that there kind showed 99.99 percent of the time. Sinclair watched them leave before toggling his link, confident that he now had confirmation that the mysterious Tau'ri were coming here to Babylon Five.

"CIC," he said.

"Go," Ivanova responded.

"Open Gold Channel to Earth Force Command," Sinclair ordered. "I need to speak to General Lefcourt."

"Aye, sir, and commander what's going on?"

"It's been confirmed in typical cryptic Vorlon way that the probe is Tau'ri in origin," Sinclair answered. "And that the Tau'ri are coming here to Babylon Five and that the Vorlons have come to greet them."

For a moment there was silence over the comm. link, a stunned silence, like Susan Ivanova could not believe what she had just heard. Jeffery Sinclair could well understand why, the Vorlons had never been known to be this proactive. The fact that the Tau'ri coming to Babylon Five had the behaving in such an uncharacteristic way raised more questions than it answered. Questions like who were the Tau'ri really to rouse such a reaction from the powerful, reclusive, enigmatic Vorlon Empire?

"I see, sir. I'll get General Lefcourt on Gold Channel One, a.s.a.p."

"Excellent," Sinclair replied as he headed out of the bay himself back towards the transport tube. "I'm heading to my office now, do you're best to have the general online by the time I get there."

"Yes, sir will do."


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

_The fleet of Sinhindrea warships hung silent and deadly amongst the ever shifting clouds of gas and dust that marked the outer perimeter of the dark matter galaxy that was their domain. It was the largest fleet that their race had assembled since the Great Cleansing millions of years before, drawing elements from sector defence fleets and a full blown battle force sent from the homeworld itself._

_The reason for such a great assemblage was still floating in the great expanse between galaxies, an expanse that they had never been able to cross. The massive fleet of inferiors remained floating in formation in the void, unmoving, but showing no signs of pulling back and fleeing from them. Clearly they did not understand that the Sinhindrea were power beyond comprehension, hunger beyond understanding, but then inferior life forms never did. They always had to be taught, right before they were consumed. And in another few hours they would be ready to teach this latest group of inferiors the lesson that so many others had learned._

_They would teach them and then they would destroy them._

* * *

**TFS Repulse**

**That Same Time**

Admiral Helena Hawkins did her level best to ignore the faint headache still making its presence felt inside her skull. Like everyone else on the crew she was not yet fully recovered from the effects of the highly unusual method of attack used against the fleet by the unknown alien ship. A ship that had been promptly destroyed by the Asgard after it mounted its telepathic attack as it appeared to have had no effect on the Asgard themselves.

_Not that the Asgard escaped harm,_ she thought with a mental wince remembering the damage that Thor's new flagship the _General O'Neill_ had sustained when the cruiser _San Andreas_ collided with her. She felt for those Asgard who had died when the hull of Thor's ship was ruptured, just as she felt for everyone else who had died most of whom had been on the _San Andreas_ but not all. Dozens in the fleet had died from haemorrhaging in the brain brought on by the subspace boosted telepathic assault and nearly eight hundred Jaffa had died when two of their motherships _Garek's Folly_ and _Raknor's Fire_ collided and exploded during the devastating alien attack.

They were all deaths she was determined to avenge while at the same time carrying out her original mission to determine the fate of Rivendell and the squadron of warships assigned to escort and protect her. Given the outright hostility they had so far encountered from this galaxy inhabitant – if that ship had indeed come from the dark matter galaxy a few hundred light years off the _Repulses_ bow – it was even more imperative that they learn Rivendell's fate. _I hope she's not been destroyed,_ she thought as she approached the war room, _because it will make the war that is almost certainly coming that little bit worse._

Arriving outside the war room, Helena took a deep breath and let it out slowly before waving a hand over the glowing blue crystals that formed the door control. With a soft humming sound the heavily armoured door slid aside and she walked into the room. To find everyone had gathered for this emergency council of war, including Supreme Commander Thor and Jaffa Master Darnek.

"Welcome everyone," she said moving to her seat and sitting down. "You all know why we are here, what we must decide now is how to proceed with our mission. Given the observed hostility of the natives of the galaxy off our bow then it is now more imperative than ever that we learn Rivendell's fate."

"We agree, Admiral Hawkins," Thor said. "However before we proceed there is another matter that we must discuss relating to the aliens attack on us."

"And what might that be, Thor," Darnek asked impatient to get on with planning their next move. The aliens attack had killed eight hundred Jaffa, a stain of blood and dishonour that had to be avenged as soon as possible.

"We have analysed the method used by the aliens to attack this fleet," Thor continued ignoring the Jaffa's impatience. As he spoke he manipulated controls built into the arm of his throne-like chair, establishing a link between the computers on the _General O'Neill_ and the _Repulse_ and transferring the findings of his science officers before making them appear on a holographic display screen over the conference table.

"As can be seen the alien ship emitted a subspace carrier wave on a very unusual frequency band," Thor explained. "This carrier wave contained a series of neural pulses capable of disrupting the nervous systems of most known species. The carrier is also capable of penetrating most known shield systems. However we believe that it will not be capable of penetrating either my peoples own shield technology or the Ancient-derived shield technology used to protect Tau'ri vessels."

"So in other world it's only our ships that are vulnerable," Darnek said, frowning slightly but not particularly surprised that his people's capital ships were the only ones whose shields would not protect them. Though they had advanced considerably technologically the Jaffa Nation was still below the level of technology fielded by both the Asgard and the Tau'ri. A fact that he knew did not sit well with some Jaffa who considered the Tau'ri arrogant upstarts unworthy of the power they commanded. Like many more moderate Jaffa Darnek believed those extremists misguided, the Tau'ri were the children of the Ancients – the chosen inheritors of the Alterans legacy – they were only who they had always been meant to be.

"Yes," Thor confirmed. "However all fighters and smaller attack craft will be vulnerable to the effects of this telepathic subspace weapon."

"Is there some way we can counter the weapon," Helena asked. "Maybe our ECM systems can be modified to jam this carrier wave the same way they jam or scatter enemy sensors."

"We believe that it should be possible," Thor confirmed. "However this carrier signal is unusually complex and difficult to completely decode. It will take some time to find the correct counter frequency."

"Be that as it may we shouldn't continue with our mission until we have away of stopping these aliens from pulling that telepathic attack trick again," Helena said thoughtfully.

"How long is that going to take," Darnek asked metaphorically. "We cannot just sit here in intergalactic space; Rivendell could need our help now. Plus we have to avenge those who died in the alien attack."

"Vengeance is all well and good Master Darnek," Captain Preston of the battleship _Tambora_ said. "But we have to be able to ensure fleet security against a telepathic threat such as this. Who knows what kind of capabilities this weapon really has? In theory such a weapon could allow the aliens – whoever or whatever they are – to take over someone's mind in a similar fashion to a Goa'uld."

"That's not a pleasant thought," Helena said with a slight shiver at the thought of something being able to access and take over a persons mind and body. Though the Goa'uld had been extinct for nearly five and a half centuries the memories of their existence and the seven thousand years of tyranny and terror they'd brought to the Milky Way cast a long shadow. Something that she knew made life difficult for the slowly increasing numbers of Tok'ra as it was hard for them to find individuals willing to be hosts.

"No it is not," Thor agreed.

"It is obvious that until we cannot proceed until we can guarantee the security of the fleet and everyone in it, Human, Jaffa, Tok'ra and Asgard," Helena replied. "Does everyone agree?"

One by one all the assembled senior fleet commanders nodded, including Master Darnek – albeit reluctantly. It was obvious to Helena that the old warrior was dying to go and deliver retribution to the mysterious alien force that had attacked them and led to the deaths of so many or his fellow Jaffa. But in a sign of a true leader among his prideful kind Darnek was not letting the desire for vengeance dictate his actions. She knew he would wait, wait until the science sections had found a way to adapt the various different ECM systems in the fleet to jam the subspace carrier frequency used by the aliens to carry there telepathic influence.

"Now onto other matters," Helena said. "The damage a number of our ships sustained during the attack. Supreme Commander Thor I believe you have details on the full extent of the damage to the _General O'Neill._"

"That is correct, admiral," Thor replied before beginning to explain to the allied commanders the full extent of the damage the collision with the _San Andreas_ had inflicted upon his flagship. Damage that had already guaranteed there would be war between the unknown but hostile inhabitants of the dark matter galaxy and the Asgard race.

* * *

**Medlab**

**Babylon Five**

**That Same Time**

Doctor Stephen Franklin frowned in confusion and concern as he examined the five unconscious individuals that security and one of his med teams had brought in a few minutes ago All attempts to revive the men had failed and now it appeared he had found the reason why. Infecting the bodies of all five men was exactly the same kind of disruptive energy that he'd found in the technician stunned by the alien probes highly unusual weapon. But he didn't understand how it could be, the maintenance bay the probe was stored in was kept under heavy guard and the five men had been found in completely the wrong area of the station for the probe to have stunned them.

A sudden thought occurred to him, something that would go along way towards explaining the mystery. The Tau'ri weren't coming to Babylon Five; they were already here. The five men must have somehow run across them before they were ready to make there presence known, and promptly been stunned. The question was why were they here so covertly, what was their purpose. After a moment he sighed and tapped his link.

"Franklin to Garibaldi," he said.

"Garibaldi go," Michael Garibaldi answered immediately. "What's the problem doc?"

"It concerns the five unconscious men some of your guards brought in a short time ago," Stephen replied. "I've completed my analysis of their condition; I need you and the commander to come down here as soon as possible. We could have a problem."

"I'll get the commander," Garibaldi answered sounding concerned instantly picking up on the concern in Franklin's voice. "We'll be there as soon as we can doc."

As the security chief signed off Stephen turned his attention back to the five unconscious men. As with the technician there was nothing he could do to help them, he didn't really understand how the Tau'ri weapon worked. The science behind its disruptive energy was way beyond his experience and comprehension – anything major he did to revive the men could just make it worse. He would just have to wait for the energy to dissipate on its own and hope that it didn't do any irreparable damage to their nervous systems; he didn't think it would but it was an alien weapon so there was a big question mark over its long term side effects if there were any at all.

After a moment he sighed softly and turned away. He had a number of other patients who required his attention while he waited for Michael Garibaldi and Commander Sinclair to arrive.

* * *

**A Few Minutes Later**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair was confused and concerned as he followed Michael Garibaldi into the largest of Babylon Five's Medlab facilities. He had just finished informing General Lefcourt and Senator Hidoshi of what the Vorlons had said about the Tau'ri when Michael had come into his office. Come in and told him that Stephen needed to see them immediately though he hadn't said exactly why, though Michael had told him that it had something to do with five known crooks that had been found unconscious a short time earlier in down below.

Stephen Franklin was working at the main analysis station when the arrived, and seemed to absorbed in his work that he didn't notice them come in. Despite the situation Jeff inwardly shook his head; his medical chief could get so wrapped up in his work that he wouldn't hear a Starfury engine roaring at full power right next to him.

"Okay doc we're here," Garibaldi said but Stephen showed no sign of having heard them. "Stephen," Garibaldi said again before reaching out and shaking the younger darker skinned mans shoulder making him jump.

"Damn it, Michael what are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?" Stephen asked.

"Sorry doc," Garibaldi replied not sounding the least bit apologetic. Stephen grumbled something unintelligible under his breath, presumably it was about getting revenge on one Warrant Officer Michael Garibaldi the next time the security chief was due for a physical.

"You asked to see us, Stephen," Jeff said bringing the subject of the conversation back to the reason they had abruptly been summoned here. Instantly Stephen Franklin's handsome features went serious and the medical chief stood up from his seat.

"Yes has Michael told you about the five men security brought in here a short time ago?" he asked.

"Only a little bit, five of the stations most wanted criminals found unconscious in Down Below for no apparent reason," Jeff replied. "But what do they have to do with this?"

"I'll show you," Stephen answered and mentioned them over to the main Medlab computer station where he tapped in a set of commands that brought up a series of complex looking medical test results. One reading on each result was highlighted strongly in blue.

"These are the results of the scans I did on the five men," Stephen explained. "All five show an energy present in their bodies that is disrupting there nervous systems causing unconsciousness."

"Like the technician the probe zapped," Garibaldi said thoughtfully.

"Exactly, in fact this energy is precisely the same. Indicating the same kind of weapon was used on these men."

For a moment there was silence. "But these five were not found anywhere near the probe," Garibaldi said. "So how could the same kind of weapon have been used? It's impossible unless…"

"…unless the Tau'ri are already here," Jeff finished for him. "And with so many different aliens here at any given time it would be easy for them to blend in. Especially as we have no idea what they look like. The question is why are they behaving in this way, why are they being so covert?"

"I don't know but I don't like it," Garibaldi said softly. "Though there has to be a reason why they blasted these five men unconscious, maybe they saw something they shouldn't have seen. But if that's the case why didn't the Tau'ri kill them?"

"Maybe this weapon isn't capable of it," Stephen suggested. "I could be that it's designed to disable – something that it's incredibly good at – without killing or inflicting lasting injury. Either that or they just didn't want to kill them."

"There is that possibility," Jeff agreed. "And it would fit with there behaviour towards the _Cortez_, they could have opened fire and reduced Captain Maynard and his crew to dust for violating their space. But they didn't they just politely asked the _Cortez _to leave."

"We need to know what happened," Garibaldi said. "And how these men came to be blasted unconscious, regardless of the Tau'ri's intentions there is a security threat loose on the station and it must be dealt with. Stephen is there any way of waking these men up?"

Stephen shook his head. "I don't know enough about how the Tau'ri weapon works, anything I do to wake them up could kill them or inflict serious harm," he said. "We're just going to have to wait for the residual energy of the weapon to dissipate. They'll wake up then."

"Great another five hours," Garibaldi grumbled.

"I'm afraid so," Stephen replied. "I would like to wake them now, I could do with the bed space but I cannot risk it, not without knowing more about this energy works to disrupt nervous system activity. I'll keep you up to date about their condition but that's all I can do."

Garibaldi sighed but knew better than to push for Stephen to do something. The doctor would never needlessly risk a patient's life, and would give him one hell of an angry lecture for even suggesting he take a chance with a person's life.

"Alright doc," he said at last.

"Would you keep me up to date as well," Sinclair asked.

"Sure," Stephen replied.

"In the meantime, Michael I want you to put the guards on duty outside the maintenance bay where the probe is on a heightened state of alert. If the Tau'ri are indeed here then it's most likely that they are after their probe."

"You got it, Jeff."

* * *

**Elsewhere On Babylon Five**

Lieutenant Michael Tayman moved uncloaked and with deceptive calmness through the corridors and hallways of Babylon Five, towards his destination. The more he saw of this space station the more it impressed him, though the technology around him was primitive at least compared to what he was used to, Babylon Five was a very impressive feat of engineering.

And from what he had seen so far it seemed to be fore filling the purpose for which it had apparently been constructed. He had just passed through a thronging market place in a part of the station called the Zocalo, and it had been amazing to see all the different Humans and aliens milling about the place going about their business or socialising with each other. He had to admit to feeling slightly jealous of having so many different spacefaring species around, thanks largely to thousands of years of tyrannical Goa'uld rule there were so few spacefaring species in the Milky Way back in his own reality.

The sound of laughter up ahead drew his attention just as a pair of large aliens with scaled, bluish grey skin appeared out of a large open doorway a few feet up the corridor. Both were swaying slightly in a drunken fashion and inwardly Michael smiled guessing the room ahead was a bar of some sort and that these two particular aliens had had a little too much to drink of whatever their species particular alcoholic pleasure was.

Expertly hiding his amusement he kept walking, while keeping a watchful eye on the two drunken aliens as they half walked, half staggered down the corridor in his direction. The very last thing he wanted was to get into an altercation with them; he'd had enough of that back at his beam in point. Plus this area was a lot more public, using his disruptor, personal cloak or shield here could draw unwanted attention to him, and he was already on the clock as those five guys he'd blasted earlier would be awake in another couple of hours.

Despite his best efforts one of the aliens staggered into his path and unable to stop or evade in time Michael collided with him sending them both sprawling.

"Sorry," he said carefully starting to pick himself up. He didn't get very far, because the alien he'd knocked over snarled something in what was probably his native language, before slugging him hard in the chest.

It felt like getting hit with a rock, jarring his insides and making stars explode in front of Michael's eyes. Gasping with the shock of it he rolled to the side, a second before the other alien kicked him hard in the side.

"Clumsy Human," the alien said its voice slurred by alcohol. "You injure, Drazi. You must pay."

Thanks to his implants Michael recovered from the blows and flipped back to his feet with easy agility and assumed a fighting stance. Reacting to the situation implants designed to boost his unarmed combat capabilities triggered releasing a storm of specialised nanites into his blood stream, nanites designed to increase his speed and reaction time though they couldn't really do anything to increase his physical strength. Not that they needed to, he was in peak physical condition and his grandfather was a Jaffa, consequently he had inherited a number of the genetic augmentations the Goa'uld had long about built into the Jaffa. Though three quarters Tau'ri he still possessed the denser bones and muscles than the norm, though nothing on the scale of a full blooded Jaffa.

"Now look here," he said to the two aliens. "I didn't mean to collide with your friend and I don't want to hurt you. So why don't we all go our separate ways and no one need get hurt any further."

Both aliens snickered. "Human thinks he can hurt, Drazi," the one he'd knocked down said before lunging at him. Only for Michael to easily sidestep him and as the alien past he delivered a hard hand chop to his back, making the alien cry out in pain and surprise a second before he collided with the bulkhead and crumpled to the floor dazed.

"Now are you going to listen," Michael asked the other. "Or do I really have to get rough?"

Either to drunk to care or to thick skulled to care the second Drazi dove at him, arms failing in an attempt to pummel him into the deck. To Michael's altered perceptions it seemed like the alien was moving in slow motion and he was easily able to evade the blows, before retaliating with a hard rabbit punch to the aliens chest. As the alien doubled over he formed his hands together, and raised them above his head before bringing them down on the aliens back, putting all his strength behind them.

The Drazi dropped to the deck and didn't move, unconscious from the blows. Michael took a few deep breaths to calm down, and felt his implants settling back down to normal, though some residual nanites would remain in his blood for awhile refreshing his muscles faster than they could on their own and making sure he had no bruising or other internal injuries from the alien's blows.

"Stupid," he said shaking his head.

"I'd say," a female voice with a pronounced Russian accent said making him jump slightly. Looking up he saw that a woman with long raven coloured hair had emerged from the bar. Though she was dressed in civilian clothing her manner screamed soldier and she had one of those comm. links he'd seen station security personnel wearing on the back of her right hand.

"Drazi are not the sharpest tools in the kit," she continued. "But there much stronger than we are, I've never seen someone beat a pair of them so quickly or move as fast as you did. Who are you? And how did you do that?"

"Michael Tayman," Michael answered. "As for how I do a lot of martial arts, tae kwon do, karate, judo you name it. And who are you pretty lady?"

"Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova," she replied, and though her features were composed Michael could tell that she was both a little surprised that he didn't recognise her and that she didn't quite believe his explanation. "Doing so many martial arts explains how you could beat the Drazi but doesn't explain why you're so quick. But everyone is entitled to their secrets."

"Indeed we are lieutenant commander," Michael answered. "Now if you'll excuse me I have some business to attend to."

Susan frowned slightly. Her instincts were telling her that something was different about the young man who called himself Michael Tayman. And she was getting an odd buzzing sensation from the low level telepathic ability that she had inherited from her mother, an inheritance the Psi Corps knew nothing about and never would, from him. She was sure he wasn't telling her the truth about everything, that there was a lot more to him than what he was letting on. But he looked corporate from his dress so it probably had something to do with whatever meeting he was going to.

"You should report these two for attempted assault," she told him. "The charge probably won't stick but they'll cool their heels in the brig for a day or two."

"No need," Michael answered. "They attacked me they got their lumps, that's punishment enough."

Susan grinned. Strange as he was she found herself liking this young man's attitude, even though it was something that didn't seem to quite fit with his image. She started to open her mouth to say something when a glint of metal caught her eye, the Drazi who'd hit the bulkhead and been knocked senseless was back on his feet and had produced a wicked looking knife from somewhere in his clothing.

"Look out," she said in warning a millisecond before the Drazi stabbed Michael in the lower back, sending a blizzard of agony shooting through his nervous system and making him cry out in pain and surprise. Even with his augmented hearing he had not heard the alien coming, the sound masked by the noise of the bar.

Whirling around he backhanded the alien with all his strength sending the Drazi crashing to the deck where he lay stunned and dazed. Then clutching at his side Michael dropped to his knees before collapsing onto the floor himself. The pain from the stab wound was intense, and their was something more a feeling like liquid fire spreading through his veins from the wound.

Susan was by his side in an instant and keyed her link. "I need security and medical team outside the casino, stat," she ordered before keying off the device. The Drazi started to get back up again so she kicked him in the side of the head, the blow would not be fatal to a Drazi but killing him was not her intention. The Drazi's eyes rolled in his head and he lost consciousness.

Through swimming eyes Michael saw her squat down next him. "Hang on, Mr Tayman," she said, though her voice seemed to come from very far away. "Help is on the way."

Michael nodded weakly, a strange tiredness was starting to make itself felt and with a jolt the realised that there had probably been a poison of some sort on the Drazi's knife. Through the pain and tiredness he concentrated on one of his implants; with effort he activated the sub dermal emergency transponder he'd been implanted with before leaving Rivendell. He had no choice but to call for help, even with their limited technology it wouldn't take the medical personnel on this station long to spot the differences in his physiology from the Human norm

The action took the last of his strength. Darkness descended upon him and he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Susan Ivanova watched helplessly as Michael Tayman slipped into a comatose state from the effect of the fast acting Drazi poison. There was nothing she could do to help him, only hope that medics got here quickly enough to save his life.

At that moment the transport tube just down the hall opened and a medical team and three station security personnel headed up by Garibaldi himself piled out and raced towards her.

"Are you alright," Michael Garibaldi asked Susan worriedly.

"I'm fine," Susan answered standing up as the medics got to work stabilising Michael's deteriorating condition. "Take those two Drazi to the brig on charges of assault and attempted murder."

"You got it."

* * *

**TFS Jutland**

**That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie was slowly becoming a nervous wreck. Several times in the last half an hour Oort Cloud particles had come within a hairs breath of colliding with the _Jutland_. _Parking here in the Oort Cloud surrounded by all these rocks and sleeping comets was not a good idea,_ he thought a second before a soft jolt ran through the deck beneath his feet.

"Report," he ordered.

"A small chunk of ice just collided with us, amidships, starboard side," sensors reported. "No damage."

"Aside from to our nerves," Aaron replied earning a ripple of nervous laughter from around the bridge. "Navigation is there any way we can modify our position to reduce the chances of collisions further?"

"I'm afraid not, sir," the helmsman on duty answered. "The orbits of the asteroids and comets are too irregular and chaotic. This is the best position we can maintain at this point in time. I'm doing my best to avoid collisions but it's not easy."

"I understand that, you're doing good lieutenant."

"Thank you sir."

At that moment the communications console came to life with a series of tinkling and bleeping sounds.

"What is it," Aaron asked turning his command chair to look at the communications officer, as the man in question queried his console with a mental command.

"Lieutenant Tayman's emergency transponder has been activated," the officer reported. "Code one emergency, sir."

Aaron's eyes widened slightly. A code one emergency indicated that Lieutenant Tayman's life was in grave danger and his mission in peril. "Helmsman take us out of the Oort Cloud," he ordered. "Then plot a course to the third planet."

"Aye sir."

"Communications contact Rivendell, advice Governor Shepherd and Admiral Robyns of the situation and that we are going to Lieutenant Tayman's assistance."

"Aye sir," communications replied as with a soft shiver in the deck the _Jutland's_ powerful gravimagnetic drive engaged and the powerful Agamemnon-class heavy cruiser began carefully threading its way out of the Oort Cloud into the clear interplanetary space of the Epsilon Eridani system.

"Clearing the Oort Cloud, sir," the helmsman reported. "Course for Epsilon Three plotted."

"Then take us to Babylon Five lieutenant, maximum speed."

"Aye sir."

* * *

Silently and with a grace that both belied and supplemented her power, the _Jutland_ accelerated to her maximum sublight speed of .75 c. Her bow aimed right at the distant point of light that was Epsilon Eridani 3 and the massive space station in orbit.

Babylon Five's newest visitor was on her way.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Rivendell**

**A Few Moments Later**

Governor Alison Shepherd sighed softly as Admiral Robyns finished explaining what was happening hundreds of light years away at Epsilon Eridani. Contrary to expectations Lieutenant Tayman had run into something, become the victim of some catastrophe that had led the activation of his emergency transponder.

As was proper the moment the _Jutland_ had received the code one transmission Captain McKenzie had begun moving his ship out of the Oort cloud to go to Tayman's aid. What she and Admiral Robyns had to decide now was whether to allow Captain McKenzie to continue his mission of mercy and make a short hyperspace jump to Babylon Five – it would be necessary to get there in time to save Tayman as even at maximum sublight speed it would take the _Jutland_ days to reach the space station. Or did they order McKenzie to stand down and do nothing to help Tayman, the lieutenant had been fully aware that his mission was a dangerous one.

Neither option was particularly appealing to either of them. If they did nothing then it was likely that Tayman – one of the few intelligence trained officers they had in this universe – would die. And there was also the fact that his one-quarter Jaffa heritage would raise red flags – even the most basic medical scans would reveal the differences in Tayman's physiology that would point to him not being as human as he appeared to be.

On the other hand if they allowed the _Jutland_ to continue to Babylon Five they might as well go and make formal contact now before they were really ready to do so. There would be no way for the _Jutland_ to decloak, make a precision hyperspace jump, emerge near the space station and recloak again before the station detected her presence. All in all it was the classic conundrum of being caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Options, admiral," Alison said at last. "What do you think we should do?"

"We're caught in a classic catch-22 situation, governor," Robyns replied. "I'm not comfortable with the idea of leaving one of the men under my command to die on a remote space station. But I also realise that if we allow Captain McKenzie to go to Babylon Five we will be making our presence generally known to the inhabitants of this galaxy."

Alison sighed again and carefully weighed up the options, though her strong sense of morality made it clear what their only real choice was. "We cannot leave Lieutenant Tayman where he is, possibly to die. We both sent him there, his death would be on our hands," she said. "What is the status of the task force, admiral? If we make our presence generally known then would we be able to defend ourselves if anyone tries to attack us?"

"All my ships are now fully operational, the last of the damage we sustained in the battle in the dark matter galaxy and during the passage to this universe has been repaired," Robyns answered. "And we should have the orbital planetary defence grid completely installed and operational within another twelve hours. I would have liked more time to deploy additional sensor drones in surrounding systems but the cities long range scanners can perform those tasks for now. In truth we're as ready as we can be from here."

Alison considered the admiral's words for a few moments before making her decision. "Then we have to act on our consciences," she said, Robyns nodded in agreement. Though this was not his decision really to make, he could only advise Governor Shepherd on security issues, unless there was a situation that directly threatened Rivendell's safety. The final decision belonged to Alison.

"Arwen," Alison called out. Immediately the holographic avatar of the cities A.I system materialised in the office.

"Yes, Governor Shepherd," Arwen asked.

"Send a transmission to the _Jutland,_ advice Captain McKenzie that they are clear to make a short hyperspace jump to Babylon Five. They are to retrieve Lieutenant Tayman, the probe and make formal contact with the space station. But advise them to exercise all caution."

"As you wish," Arwen replied before pausing as she carried out the command, executing it far faster than any of the Human crew could even with neural commands. "Message sent," Arwen continued. "Do you require anything else Governor Shepherd, Admiral Robyns?"

"No, Arwen," Alison answered. The holographic Elf princess looked over at Robyns for his answer, and received a head shake. Arwen nodded then vanished as if she had never been present at all.

After Arwen vanished neither spoke for a few minutes, quietly mediating on the gravity of the decision that had just been made; now that they die was cast they could only hope that it had been the correct decision.

* * *

**TFS Jutland**

**A Few Moments Later**

Captain Aaron McKenzie resisted the impulse to tap his fingers on the arms of his command chair while he waited for clearance to proceed to Babylon Five. Though he had already decided that if it didn't come in the next few minutes he would take the _Jutland_ to Babylon Five anyway and damn what Admiral Robyns or Governor Shepherd thought.

Glancing at the front screens he noticed that they were finally clear of the Oort cloud and in clear interplanetary space bow pointed right at the distant point of light that was Epsilon Eridani.

At that moment the communications console emitted a chime for the operator's attention, not that it was strictly necessary for the audio warning. The neural interface between the console and its operator made it irrelevant; the warning was only there as a back up and to let the rest of the command crew know that a transmission was being received.

"Captain we've received a response from Rivendell," communications reported.

"And?" Aaron questioned.

"We're clear to perform a micro hyperspace jump to Babylon Five," the officer replied a smile on his face. "They want us to retrieve Lieutenant Tayman and the survey probe. We are then to make formal contact with Babylon Five."

"Signal acknowledgement," Aaron instructed.

"Aye sir."

"Helm is the micro-jump to Babylon Five calculated?"

"Yes sir we're ready to jump on your command," the helmsman reported while with a part of his mind double checking that the micro-jump was correctly entered into the navigational computer. They would be dependent on it to execute such a precise manoeuvre – even with interface between his mind and the computer there would be no way he could execute such a short hyperspace hop. Though the distance between here and Babylon Five was vast in normal space it was a ludicrously short distance for a hyperdrive system that was capable of crossing galaxies in days and between galaxies within weeks.

"Tactical disengage our cloaking device but bring passive ECM systems to full power, I don't want anyone getting clear scans of us," Aaron ordered. "Helmsman as soon as our cloaking device is disengaged execute the hyperspace jump."

"Aye sir," came the replies from the respective officers.

As his crew carried out their tasks Aaron braced himself in the command chair. The micro-hyperspace jump was going to be bumpy, such things always were. The sudden sharp, successive acceleration and deceleration forces the manoeuvre placed on the ship played hell with inertial dampeners. As sophisticated and powerful as they were they were never quite able to fully cancel out the massive forces involved. It was one of the reasons why such precision jumps were only used when there was no other choice, as it was uncomfortable for the crew. The second reason was the amount of additional wear and tear it put on a starships systems, especially on inertial dampeners and hyperdrives which could shorten the lifespan of the respective systems considerably.

For a few moments nothing happened; then a humming sound began to be heard throughout the ship as the _Jutland's_ mighty hyperdrive system began powering up. In moments the engines reached full power and the humming faded away to be replaced by a faint vibration of contained power that could be felt in the deck beneath the crew's feet.

"Initiating micro-jump… now," the helmsman reported before giving the command mentally to the navigational computer.

For a few milliseconds nothing happened then there was a physical rushing sensation as the _Jutland_ launched into hyperspace, only to blink back out again hundreds of thousands of light hours from where she had previously been. The sudden sharp acceleration and deceleration forces threw the crew forward against their consoles, then jerked them back against their seats and produced a visible rippling in the air as the artificial gravity field fluctuated back and forth before settling back down to normal.

Recovering quickly from the forces he'd just been exposed to Aaron McKenzie glanced around the bridge and was pleased to see that his crew – while being a little out of breath for being thrown against consoles and getting the wind knocked out of them – we're already attending their duties. Turning his attention to the main screen he smiled when he saw Babylon Five floating in space ahead of them. He couldn't deny that the massive O'Neill-type space station was very impressive to look at, especially when you bore in mind that it had been built by Human hands and that the Humans of this universe were far less technologically advanced than they were.

"Scan the station," Aaron ordered. "Locate Lieutenant Tayman and beam him straight to sickbay, then locate the probe and transport it to our main cargo bay."

"Aye sir," sensors replied.

"Communications stand by to open communication with Babylon Five," Aaron added.

"Aye sir, shall we use that Interlac language the _Cortez_ sent us?" communications answered.

Aaron considered for a few moments, Interlac would continue to give them a degree of anonymity – especially if they continued to use audio only transmissions. Though if they were to make formal contact with Babylon Five then a face to face meeting would be inevitable – which would reveal to the stations crew that they were human, albeit not the same race as them.

"No we'll speak to them in English," he said. "If they ask we can always say we've learned the language from listening to their transmissions. But use audio only for now, I don't want them to see who we are until there is no other choice."

"Aye sir."

* * *

**Medlab**

**Babylon Five**

**A Few Minutes Earlier**

Doctor Stephen Franklin looked up from the main computer station when an emergency medical team came racing into the room, manoeuvring a stretcher between them; a stretcher on which a muscular young man lay motionless aside from the slight rise and fall of his chest. Trailing along behind them, dressed in civilian clothes as she'd been off duty, was Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova and following her was Lou Walsh from security.

"What have we got," Stephen asked standing up and pulling on some sterile gloves before joining the scrum of medics.

"He was attacked by a couple of drunken Drazi, Stephen," Susan replied. "They stabbed him on the lower left hand side of his back, from the speed with which he lost consciousness I'd guess the blade tip was poisoned."

Stephen nodded while inwardly groaning. Drazi knife poisons were complex biochemical compounds that killed their victim in a variety of different ways, from paralysing chest muscles making the victims suffocate to being neural solvents that slowly broke down the central nervous system. They were always difficult things for medical science to defeat – but then they were designed to be. He glanced at the victim whose skin was deathly pale and caked in sweat and he knew he was dealing with one of the nastier poisons and was going to have his work cut out for him beating both it and repairing whatever tissue damage the knife wound had inflicted.

"Put him on the scanner," he instructed the medical team, the sooner he knew precisely how the poison was affecting the young man the better off they would be. "Do we have any idea who this man is," he asked.

"He said his name was Michael Tayman," Susan answered. "Though when Lou here checked station records there was no indication of when he came on board. So I'm not sure if that's his real name."

"Finding out who he really is can wait until later," Stephen replied as he moved over to the diagnostic scanner station. "First I have to save this mans life, where is the knife now?"

"Right here, doc," Lou said offering him a sealed evidence bag with the knife – blood still visible on its blade – inside. Inwardly Stephen shuddered at the sight of it, the blade was typically Drazi in design with sharp serrated, oddly shaped edges designed to inflict the maximum amount of damage insuring that either the victim died from blood loss or the poison on its tip.

"Give it to Dr Marks," Stephen instructed as the copper skinned junior doctor who was stationed on Babylon Five for the next month stepped forward. "Analyse the poison on that blade immediately and whip up the appropriate counter agent," Stephen instructed him.

"Yes doctor," Marks replied accepting the evidence bag off Lou and hurrying over to the main analysis computer to do the task he was bid to do.

Stephen for his part turned his attention back to Michael Tayman – if that's what this guys name actually was – and started up the diagnostic scanner. For a few moments nothing happened and then the device emitted an unanticipated alarm tone.

"What the hell," Stephen said as results appeared on the display screens and his eyes went wide and he looked back at Tayman in shock.

"What is it," Susan asked seeing the look on Stephen's face. "Stephen."

"This can't be right," Stephen said softly to himself before running another scan. Again the same results appeared. "This is impossible."

"What," Susan demanded sounding a little annoyed now.

"This man," Stephen replied looking up. "This man isn't Human."

"What! But he looks…"

"I know and whatever his species is they obviously come from a Human baseline but he's not a Human," Stephen replied. "There are quite a few similarities, but there are differences as well, too many of them."

"Like?"

"For one his bones and muscles are about sixty percent denser than the norm, meaning that he's stronger and faster than we are. I'd say he's at least as strong as a Minbari. There is also a very curious sealed void beneath his abdominal muscles, almost like a womb but its not connected to anything. There's no appendix and the scanner can't make any sense of this immune system."

Susan frowned and was about to fire off a sharp question when abruptly the lights began flickering. Simultaneously all the computer screens began washing with static and lights on the consoles began flickering on and off in a completely random pattern.

"What the hell," she said before tapping her link, "Ivanova to C & C, what's going on?"

"Lieutenant Commander an alien ship just appeared right on top of us," Lieutenant Corwin responded from C & C his voice washing with a weird warbling static interference. "Its scanning us, the EMP output is tremendous its disrupting systems all over the station." Abruptly the lights and computers stopped flickering and the interference vanished. "Scanners have stopped lieutenant commander," Corwin reported.

"Advice the commander," Susan ordered. "I'm on my way." She closed down the link and was about to leave the room when a new sound caught her attention. She looked over at 'Michael Tayman' where the sound seemed to be coming from a millisecond before a brilliant silver white light enveloped and completely obscured him from view. Then with an almost musical tone it vanished taking Tayman with it.

"What the hell?" Stephen exclaimed staring at where his most unusual patient had been lying mere seconds before in disbelief. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know but I suspect our new arrival has something to do with it," Susan said sounding determined. "Excuse me." With that she turned around and walked out ready to get some answers out of the aliens who had just arrived.

Stephen and Lou watched her go. "I think someone is going to have some very pointed questions to answer," Stephen said softly.

"Definitely," Lou agreed.

* * *

**Ambassador Kosh's Quarters**

**Alien Sector, Babylon Five**

**That Same Time**

Floating silently above their encounter suits the four Vorlons were brought out of their mediation on the beauty and harmony of the universe when they sensed powerful scanner waves washing through Babylon Five. Silent queries to their distant sentient ships confirmed that an alien vessel had just emerged from a hyperspace window on top of Babylon Five and subjected the station to an extremely powerful subspace scan. A scan whose energy profiles the Vorlons had not encountered in over a million years.

"They are here," Kosh Narenek said feeling a shiver of excitement that the Alterans were at last making their presence known.

"Yes," Emperors council member Kosh Menkusi agreed softly in the more lyrical voice of a Vorlon female. "We must be ready to greet them."

"Yes."

* * *

**Command and Control**

**Babylon Five, A Few Minutes Later**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair was frowning as he walked into the observation dome that served as home to Babylon Five's command centre. Ambassador Delenn walked a few paces behind him; they'd been in a meeting discussing the still deteriorating Drazi/Brakiri situation when he'd received the call from command and control about the arrival of an unknown alien ship. A ship whose scanners were so powerful that they'd made the station's power grid go banana's when it scanned them. Delenn had been curious and asked to accompany him to C & C and he'd granted the request – after all the Minbari were slowly but surely becoming the greatest friends Earth had.

"Report," he ordered as he headed to the main console, where a nervous young junior lieutenant named David Corwin was officer of the watch in place of Susan Ivanova. _Though if I know Susan she'll be here any minute,_ Jeff thought.

"The alien ship is holding station ten thousand kilometres off the station sir," Corwin reported. "We've tried to scan them but all of our scans are being blocked, we can't even get power emissions. However visual scan still works and confirms that the silhouette is identical to the warship encounter by the _Cortez_ in System NL-24."

Jeff's eyes widened slightly. "A Tau'ri warship," he said. "Have they hailed us yet?"

"Negative, they're just sitting there," Corwin replied heading back to his normal station. Jeff turned to the main console screen which showed an image of the warship as being captured by the maintenance and security bots that buzzed constantly through space around the station.

The Tau'ri warship was very knife-like in design and like a Minbari war cruiser was a frightening combination of elegance and predatory fierceness. It bristled with obvious weapons arrays including a number of large turrets and two intimidating large cannons – one on each side of the bow. There was no doubt in Jeff's mind that the warship could pound Babylon Five to pieces in short order should the Tau'ri's intention be aggression, and that there would not be anything they could do to stop them.

"What are they doing," he said softly to himself.

"Maybe they are waiting for you to make the next move," Delenn said reasonably studying the alien warship out of the corner of her eyes. Even by Minbari standards it looked very powerful, and what little she'd heard about the Tau'ri it appeared that technologically they were far more advanced than her people. This would be a rare occurrence indeed as to their knowledge only the Vorlons, Shadows and the Yolu were more technologically advanced than them. She couldn't help but wonder what it meant for the coming war against the darkness.

"Makes sense," Jeff agreed just as one of the consoles in C & C began to bleep for attention.

"Commander we're getting a signal from the Tau'ri vessel," Corwin reported. "Audio only, commander there speaking English."

"What the-? Put them through."

"Aye sir."

The overhead speakers crackled slightly then a powerful, male sounding voice came through the signal humming slightly with the power behind the Tau'ri ships systems. "…repeating this is the Tau'ri Federation cruiser _Jutland_ to Babylon Five respond please," the voice said.

"This is Commander Jeffery Sinclair of Babylon Five," Jeff responded. "We hear you."

"Greetings commander," the anonymous voice answered. "Forgive us for surprising you like this."

"It's quite alright," Jeff answered. "Might I ask why you are here?"

"You may. We are here for you commander."

"Me?" Jeff asked not noticing the faint look of alarm that briefly appeared on Delenn's face at the prospect that the Tau'ri wanted Commander Sinclair.

"Not you personally commander," the Tau'ri commander answered. "But for what you represent, all the sentient races in this part of this galaxy. We would like to make first contact with all of you; it is time that we met."

"I think that can be arranged," Jeff replied. "But first I would like to see who you are; does your ship have visual transmitting capability?"

For a few moments there was silence and Jeff began to wonder if he had upset the Tau'ri by asking to see their commanders face. The silence dragged on and on and he began to sweat inwardly knowing Earth Gov would have his head if he botched up this first contact.

"Yes," the Tau'ri officer answered at last a moment before the screen on the main console came to life, rippled with static interference before resolving into a face. And Jeff gasped at the face that he saw, it couldn't be, it was impossible.

The face that looked back at him was Human.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

_The fleet was ready at last._

_The Sinhindrea High Fleet Lord smiled as much as its species biology would allow as through its cyber link with the ship reports came in from all fleet ships. The greatest war fleet assembled by the Sinhindrea since the Great Cleansing over two million years ago was ready. Ready to deal with the inferiors forces sitting in the void beyond the veil, and terrifying close to invasion of their sacred space._

_With the long range scanners the High Fleet Lord studied the inferior's forces. In capital ships they outnumbered the Sinhindrea forces but not by much. And the difference would be more than made up with addition of the thousands and thousands of Youngling piloted assault fighters with the fleet. The inferiors sitting there in the Great Void were about to learn the folly of their actions. We're about to be taught the lesson that so many other inferior races had learned before they were consumed._

_The lesson that the Sinhindrea were a power beyond comprehension, a hunger beyond understanding and the only race with the right to exist in the universe as anything other than a source of food. Once that lesson had been taught the Sinhindrea would take great pleasure in slowly devouring any inferiors unfortunate enough to survive their power._

_With glee filled thoughts of the slaughter of inferiors that was to come the High Fleet Lord gave the long awaited order._

_And the Sinhindrea fleet began to move._

* * *

**Flag Bridge**

**TFS Repulse**

Fleet Admiral Helena Hawkins smiled as she carefully read through the report from tactical that had just been submitted to her. The analysis of the subspace carrier wave the aliens had used in their highly unusual but devastatingly effective telepathic weapon was complete. And not only that but modifications to the ECM systems of all the different types of warships that there were in the fleet had been devised.

"Have these specifications been transmitted to the rest of the fleet," she asked the young officer who had handed her the pad.

"Yes ma'am," the nervous lieutenant replied. "All fleet ships are ready to execute the changes on your order."

"Consider the order given, lieutenant," Helena replied. "You are the rest of the science division deserve to be congratulated for figuring this out so quickly."

"I'll tell them, ma'am. Given what happened to the _San Andreas_ and the two Jaffa ships they had a lot of motivation."

"I'm sure they did," Helena answered with a smile before dismissing the lieutenant with a slight gesture that sent him scurrying away. It was understandable that the fleets electronic warfare specialists would work so hard, though the number of people who'd died as a result of the alien attack was small when compared to the total number of people in the fleet they were high enough for people to want revenge and to find away to stop there unknown opponents from pulling that telepathic attack trick again.

Now that an answer had been found it was time to get back to their mission and determine just what had happened to Rivendell and what had caused the subspace shattering that had gotten the Ancients worried enough that they'd sent Daniel Jackson to ask Thor for Asgard assistance.

"Helm," she ordered. "Plot a course into the dark matter galaxy then transmit to all fleet ships, its time to get back to what we came here to do."

"Aye ma'am," the helmsman on flag bridge duty answered.

Helena leaned back in her chair to wait for the helmsman to plot the course, moving so many ships through hyperspace together was always somewhat tricky, especially given the inertial forces involved. If the coordinates were not precisely calculated then ships could end up emerging from hyperspace on random vectors – which could lead to unpleasant consequences especially if ships collided while gripped by the inertia of hyperspace emergence before sublight engines could slow them down.

It was at that precise moment that the sensor console came to life with a series of crystalline sounding chimes. Helena turned her command chair slightly to look at the sensor station as the lieutenant on duty mentally queried her console to find out what was teasing the powerful batteries of sensors the _Repulse_ was equipped with.

"Admiral sensors have detected hyperspace windows opening ahead of the fleet, distance thirty thousand kilometres," sensors reported.

"How many," Helena asked urgently.

The lieutenant swallowed nervously. "Six hundred, ma'am," he answered. "There are ships emerging from the windows, six hundred capital scale warships and twelve thousand smaller targets, from their size I'd say there fighters but much larger than those used by ourselves and the Jaffa. And admiral the configuration of the capital ships matches the alien cruiser that attacked us earlier, but some of them are a whole lot bigger."

Helena's eyes widened. Six hundred warships and twelve thousand fighters was an enormous force even by Tau'ri and Jaffa standards. There could be no doubt that it was a full blown assault fleet, a fleet whose sole purpose was to wipe them from existence.

"Enemy ships are forming up," sensors added. "They've raised shields and are powering up there weapons."

"Battle stations, raise shields power up all weapons systems," Helena ordered. "Communications tell all fleet ships to begin broadcasting the new interference pattern; I don't want any telepathic attacks."

"Aye, ma'am," communications answered as klaxons began to wail throughout the five kilometre length of the _Repulse,_ summoning the super-dreadnoughts crew to battle stations.

"Tactical display on main screens," Helena added and turned her attention to the high resolution plasma screens at the front of the bridge. Immediately tactical displays materialised showing a multitude of information that included everything from ship identifications and projected vectors, to shield and weapons status.

The two fleets were arrayed in opposing lines a bit like how sea battles had been fought on Earth centuries ago during the Age of Sail, with the opposing sides forming into a battle line. Colour coded dots and chevrons signified which ships and fighters belonged to whom, with blue chevrons indicating the Tau'ri ships with blue dots for the fighters, gold chevrons and dots for the Jaffa ships and silver chevrons representing the Asgard ships. Facing them was an angry mass of red chevrons and dots for the unknown but highly aggressive alien forces that had already attacked them once without warning or provocation.

The enemy fleet was organising itself into a series of assault waves with a percentage of their fighters and smaller capital ships making up the first wave. Three more waves followed with progressively heavier numbers of capital ships. Helena noticed with interest that a few of the enemy ships hung back from their assault lines and she couldn't help but wonder what their purpose was. Were they spotters who would be watching the battle from a distance and provide direction? Or did they have a completely different purpose?

Whatever their purpose was she didn't have much time to think about it. For at that moment the first wave of enemy ships and fighters began moving towards the 4th Fleet and the allied Asgard fleet.

"Lock on all forward weapons arrays," Helena ordered. "Open fire as soon as the aliens are within range, pulse weapons and drones to target their fighters. Save our particle slicer beams for the capital ships."

"Aye ma'am."

* * *

The first wave of the Sinhindrea attack force glided smoothly through space towards the enemy they considered inferior to them with confident arrogance. Despite the disastrous previous encounters with these unknown inferiors the Sinhindrea were confident of victory, after all they were the race. The one chosen by the gods to exist above all other races.

As they approached weapons range, the crews on the Sinhindrea capital ships combined there telepathic power and using their cyber links to the ships subspace comm. systems and reached out to attack the minds of their enemies.

What happened next stunned them.

The moment the carrier signal for their telepathic impulses reached the enemy fleet a piercing screeching and buzzing sound slammed into the minds of the ship crews. The powerful interference signal being broadcast by the ECM systems on the Tau'ri, Jaffa and Asgard vessel tore through the minds of the crew and into their ships systems through there cybernetic linkages. With devastating results.

The capital ships in the first assault wave seemed to stagger in space, as though hitting an invisible barrier, before beginning to fall out of formation. Propulsion systems shut down but inertia carried them forward into the range of the 4th Fleets weapons. Unaffected by the jamming signal ravaging their capital ships the first squadrons of Sinhindrea fighters seemed to bristle, antiproton based plasma surging through them before being spat out of their tips as a ball of pure destructive power. Appearing as a ball of searing red fire the plasma balls crossed the distance between them and their enemies in a storm of energy that slammed into the leading edge of the enemy formation. Shields flashed and rippled with silver-white light at the points of impact where the blasts encountered the powerful hybrid Alteran/Asgard shielding used by the Tau'ri warships and dispersed harmlessly, their force ineffectively sleeting off the energy barriers back into space.

Not deterred in the slightest, the Sinhindrea fighters changed their aim and let fly with a second salvo, just as the wall of destroyers and cruisers at the leading edge of the Tau'ri fleet opened fire. Blue-white ion bolts began spewing from their forward pulsed particle cannons and streams of glowing yellow squid-like projectiles began streaking away from their drone banks towards the Sinhindrea.

The faster moving particle bolts arrived first, scoring clean hits on dozens of Sinhindrea fighters. Instantly Sinhindrea fighters blinked out of existence in short lived fireballs, their weak shields being completely unable to slow down let alone stop the powerful disruptive ion blasts. Dozens of shots blew through the debris clouds from the destroyed fighters to slam into the disorganised capital ships even as the Sinhindrea crews figured out what was happening and stopped their attempt at telepathic assault. Sinhindrea capital ships shuddered violently as ion blasts exploded against their shields.

Angered and insulted by the fact that they had yet to open fire on the inferiors let alone score a meaningful hit the Sinhindrea capital ships started firing their own plasma weapons at their enemies, multiple ships concentrating their bombardments on a handful of Tau'ri ships at the tip of the vanguard of cruisers and destroyers. A silver-white aura appeared around the targeted ships as their shields flared brilliantly under the bombardment, despite the pounding they returned fire slamming disruptive ionized particles into the Sinhindrea shields. One of the cruisers its shields glowing nova bright under heavy fire from no less than three Sinhindrea cruisers targeted the largest of its antagonists and fired both of its particle slicer beams.

Twin green energy beams slammed into the Sinhindrea battlecruiser making it visibly shake even as its shields flared brilliant silver, it stopped firing as all power was directed to the forward shields as they struggled to withstand the assault. The slicer beams died away leaving the alien battlecruiser surrounded by a brilliant sphere of energy. The attacking Tau'ri cruiser fired at its largest antagonist again even as its one shields flared out of existence under Sinhindrea fire. A stream of ion bolts and drones converged on the battlecruiser, its still glowing shields sagged and almost flared out of existence under the ion assault and thus presented no obstacle to the drone salvo. The partially phased weapons passed through the weakened Sinhindrea shields as if they didn't exist to slam into the glowing energy globe at the back of the battlecruiser before exploding rupturing the containment field and reducing the rear of the Sinhindrea cruiser to scrap, milliseconds before the eruption of energy from the ruptured globe vaporised the battlecruiser in an energy maelstrom that vaporised it so completely that nothing remained of the ship beyond a rapidly dispersing cooling plasma cloud.

The Tau'ri cruiser didn't have chance to celebrate its victory. Its own shields gone the plasma bolts being fired by the Sinhindrea slammed into its thickly armoured hide with searing hot force; normally the light but immensely strong composite naquada, trinium, carbon armour would have easily resisted a plasma attack but the antiproton based nature of the Sinhindrea weapon allowed the plasma to literally explode on contact, vaporising the armour and opening whole sections to space.

Wounded the cruiser began to list badly to its starboard side even as its cannons fired back in defiance. Like lions pouncing on a wounded wilder beast a handful of Sinhindrea fighters descended upon the ship, firing more plasma through the breaches in the hull to set off destructive explosions inside the ship. Secondary explosions erupted and the doomed cruiser began to tear itself apart from within. A final volley of plasma slammed into the dying vessel, instantly turning it into a fireball that quickly snuffed itself out in the vacuum of space and left nothing but a spinning plume of debris behind.

Seconds later more brilliant explosions illuminated the battlefield as two Tau'ri destroyers and a Jaffa mothership joined the cruiser in death. Emboldened by their success the Sinhindrea cruisers closed in, headless of the heavy fire they were taking, heading for the gaps blown in the enemy vanguard.

It was the wrong move to make.

As soon as their ships slipped into position flanking Tau'ri, Jaffa and Asgard forces swung around enveloping the Sinhindrea cruisers and fighters, trapping them inside a deadly sphere of crisscrossing particle beams, ion bolts, plasma bolts and drones.

Caught in such a deadly crossfire the Sinhindrea capital ships had no chance, one by one they succumbed to the fire of there enemies and vanished in brilliant explosions. Finally only one Sinhindrea cruiser remained from the first assault wave, listing badly and venting the streams of freezing water from multiple breaches in its hull the cruiser lined up on the Tau'ri battleship _Sheppard's Fury_ and fired its engines.

Recognising the suicide run, the crew of the _Sheppard's Fury_, cut loose with every weapon they could bring to bare. Sinhindrea fighters formed up into a protective screen around the listing cruiser, soaking up the fire from the Charon-class battleship and surrounding ships, buying time for the first waves remaining cruiser with their own lives. Drones and pulse fire blanketed space destroying fighter after fighter, swatting them from the sky as if they had never been. But the defensive fire was in vain and the dying Sinhindrea cruiser slammed into the _Sheppard's Fury_ at maximum speed.

The tip of the first of the cruisers tendrils was stopped the moment it impacted the shields, but due to the laws of physics the rest of the ship kept coming, shattering and exploding as it drove forward. The battleships shields flared and rippled with distortion waves as they struggled against the enormous kinetic force of the collision. Finally the energy globe of the Sinhindrea ship exploded as it reached the brilliant silver-white barrier of the shield, it was to much. The energy maelstrom slammed into the shields which instantly blinked out of existence allowing the massive force of the explosion to slam into the hull. Armour vaporised allowing the storm to tear through the _Sheppard's Fury_ literally tearing the ship in two. The remaining halves of the battleship drifted away from each other, wracked with secondary explosions as they slowly tore themselves apart.

* * *

**Asgard Vessel General O'Neill**

Supreme Commander Thor scowled as much as an Asgard could as he observed the destruction of the _Sheppard's Fury_ by a ramming attack. The fact that these unknown but extremely hostile aliens had done that and that a huge number of their fighters had sacrificed themselves to ensure the success of the kamikaze strike was very alarming. It pointed to an enemy that didn't care about its own losses, as long as they took out the enemy. It brought back some unpleasant memories of the Replicator War and the insane swarming tactics those mechanical terrors had often used so successfully against Asgard ships.

The fact that this new enemy seemed to employ the same kind of tactics was deeply concerning. Especially given the observed power of their plasma weapons, weapons the according to the ships sensors were antimatter based – an unprecedented occurrence in Asgard experience. They had never encountered a race that used antimatter or antimatter particles for anything – the stuff was just far to volatile, plus it didn't quite yield as much energy as naquada which was much easier to deal with.

A change on the tactical hologram caught his attention, the next wave of enemy warships had begun to move towards combat range. Unlike the previous fleet that had only a relatively small number of capital ships with them this wave of ships had many more, with each warship being supported by a considerable number of fighters.

"Stand by all weapons," Thor ordered. "Target the leading enemy ships, fire as soon as they within range."

"Yes supreme commander," one of the other Asgard on the bridge reported. "Sir Tau'ri and Jaffa ships are launching fighters, plus the Tau'ri ships are powering their drone launchers again."

Thor nodded. He could see it on the tactical display, hundreds then thousands of new contacts began to appear from the Tau'ri and Jaffa vessels as they deployed their own fighters. Simultaneously sensors picked up multiple drone launches from the leading Tau'ri ships, even as heavier ships moved up to join the vanguard their main weapons building up sufficient energy to open fire.

Thor could see what Admiral Hawkins was doing with her drones; she was planning to use them to clear away as many of the enemy fighters as possible before they reached combat range. It was a good strategy and one that took full advantage of the fact that drones had a longer range than energy weapons did. With accurate drone fire the Tau'ri should be able to take out a sizeable number of enemy fighters and be immune to counter fire.

He kept his eyes focused on the tactical display as the drones reached the leading edge of the enemy assault wave. The icons that indicated enemy fighters began to wink out as the streams of glowing yellow squid-like projectiles literally tore fighters from the sky, their weak shields being no obstacle to the partially phased weapons. In mere moments Thor observed a good twenty percent of the assault waves fighters vanish from existence, leaving the leading enemy cruisers without any fighter support.

"Instruct all ships, prepare to fire," Thor ordered. "Time till the enemy enter weapons range?"

"Enemy ships will be in firing range in one minute, supreme commander," one of the bridge crew reported, even as the tactical display showed a second salvo of drones birthing from the Tau'ri vessels and streaking towards the enemy, this time Thor noted a slight difference in targeting. While most of the salvo was targeted against the enemy fighters a number of drones were heading right for the leading capital ships.

The second drone salvo reached the aliens mere seconds before they entered weapons range themselves, the three leading capital ships took a dozen drone hits each making there shields flare and ripple with distortion waves as the drones partially penetrated shields exploding inside the matrix of the force field itself. Thor winced slightly at the sight, knowing that would hurt the aliens severely as the drone detonations would create distortions in their forward shields which would reduce their effectiveness at repelling the Tau'ri's weapons.

The alien fleet drew into range and immediately opened fire, multiple lava-like balls of plasma shooting forth from the long tendril structures that seemed to be the alien ships gun barrels. The bolts sailed lazily through space before impacting on their targets and dispersing in a shimmer of shields.

Thor felt the _General O'Neill_ shudder slightly as two plasma balls impacted the forward shields. "Open fire," he ordered.

"Yes supreme commander."

* * *

**A Few Moments Earlier**

Flight Lieutenant Adam 'Whirlwind' Swenson grunted slightly as a gravitic catapult shot his Hornet-class fighter clear of the _Repulse's_ main starboard fighter bay. Around him the other members of his squadron where hurled into space by the catapults like bullets from an antique gun. Reacting on training burned in by the courses that made Tau'ri fighter pilots among the best in the known universe, Adam pulled by before his fighter could crash into the side of one of the _Repulse's_ escorting cruisers.

Like Puddle Jumpers fighters such as the one he was in relied on a combination of hand controls and mental commands, so with his thoughts he brought the fighter around feeling a slight pull of G forces on his body as he did so despite the best efforts of the inertial dampeners to block them out. Forming up with the rest of alpha squadron he took a quick moment to get an overview of the developing battle.

The enemy capital ships were closing to energy weapon range, braving the storm of drones peppering their forward shields and wiping many of there unusually large, escorting fighters from the sky. From his vantage point he was granted an incredible view of the Asgard flagship the _General O'Neill_, he had to admit that the Hammond-class command dreadnought was an awesome ship and bristling with the cream of the Asgard races weapons technology.

As Adam observed her with part of his mind another part alerted him to the enemy assault wave entering weapons range. In seconds balls of what looked like lava were streaking towards the fleet as the unknown aliens hit back at their tormentors. Out the corner of his eye he saw one alien cruiser fire on the _General O'Neill_, slamming a pair of plasma balls into her powerful shields.

He gasped in awe as the Asgard fired back. A massive silver-blue energy beam shot out from the centre of the hammerhead that formed the bow section of all Asgard warships. The beam sliced through space with inexorable power and smashed into the alien vessel that had dared to attack the Asgard. So powerful was the Asgard weapon that it laughed at the alien shields – tearing through them as if they didn't exist, to slam into the hull where the exotic effects on the weapon literally began disintegrating the ship. The bizarre energy globe at the back of the alien ship flashed then erupted into a firestorm of energy that completely incinerated the ship – reducing it to a plume of plasma and dust.

"Wow," he said. "The Asgard really know how to kick butt."

"That they do, Whirlwind," Squadron Leader Paul 'Bison' Pritchard answered. "Alright people listen up, _Repulse_ has detected five of the biggest alien ships and twenty fighters vectoring to strike at the _General O'Neill's _starboard side. They want us to go over there and give Thor a hand, apparently many of the _General O'Neill's_ starboard weapons systems are not back online yet and her starboard shields are only at sixty percent. Let's get over there."

"Then what are we waiting for," Adam asked as he mentally brought his fighter around and headed towards the _General O'Neill_ at full speed. With a part of his awareness he noted that the rest of alpha squadron doing the same, all of them rushing to the aide of aliens who had been allies of their race since before any of their grandparents had been born.

* * *

By the time they reached the _General O'Neill_ there was a miniature firestorm raging around her. Three of the five alien capital ships – the biggest three, and half their fighters were mercilessly bombarding her starboard shields, and taking the occasionally hit from a luminous blue plasma beam or silver-blue pulse from a disintegrator from the few operational starboard weapons arrays in retaliation. Whenever the _General O'Neill_ tried to manoeuvre to present her massive main bow batteries towards the aliens, the capital ships manoeuvred away from her, while the fighters just matched her manoeuvre and continued firing on the starboard shields like wolves nipping at the heels of a very large and angry Grizzly Bear.

Adam scowled slightly at the sight. _These guys aren't stupid,_ he thought noting the position of the other two alien warships and the rest of the fighters. They were heavily engaged against two of the Jackson-class ships meant to escort and support the dreadnought, keeping the smaller more science orientated ships away from assisting the bigger ship. The aliens weren't getting it all their own way though, as he watched one of ships attacking the Jacksons lost its shields becoming easy prey for the plasma beam weapons that were the main armament of the destroyer-sized ships. Luminous blue beams tore into the vessel, targeted right at the energy globe with predictable results. The alien ship erupted into a firestorm as it was vaporised by the energy of its own power plant.

"Okay people here's what we're going to do," Bison said over the squadron command channel. "Whirlwind take Pointman, Shadow Smith, Brinkman and Silver Hawk get rid of those fighters harassing the Jacksons. The rest of you follow me."

"On it, Bison," Adam answered though inwardly he was a little miffed that he wouldn't be going after the fighters harassing the _General O'Neill_ but orders were orders and it wasn't his place to disobey them, plus there were more than enough bad guys to kill to go around.

With a quick mental command he brought his fighter around and headed towards the two Jackson-class ships, four more Hornets falling into formation with him, while the other eleven fighters headed towards the _General O'Neill_. A flick of a switch brought up a holographic HUD up on the canopy of his fighter and he directed the fighter to query the status of the two Jacksons.

It was not good news.

The shields on both Jackson-class ships were down to fifty and forty percent respectively. The near constant rain of antiproton-based plasma bolts was depleting the powerful Asgard shields faster than crew could regenerate them. Though one of the attacking alien capital ships had now been destroyed the strain was not easing up as the fighters were shifting the majority of their attack to one of the destroyers, leaving the remaining cruiser to bombard the other one.

The first fighter came into weapons range and a red targeting rectangle appeared on his HUD, grinning Adam pulled the trigger. A pair of ion bolts flew from his guns towards the fighter, and coruscated off a force field that appeared to intercept the assault. _Damn it those things have shields,_ he thought as the struck fighter started to turn towards him. He fired again slamming another two bolts into the alien fighter – making its force field flare and ripple as it dispersed the ion bolts.

"Will you bloody die," he growled as the alien fired a ball of plasma at him forcing him to take evasive action to avoid the deadly energy bolt. While Hornet fighters had shields he wasn't sure how long they would last against these aliens plasma weapon – which seemed more powerful than most.

Banking he concentrated slightly and fired again this time sending two micro-drones flying towards the alien fighter. The scaled down version of the drones had no explosive warhead – they were far to small for that and were barely able to mount a phase shift system – but they were fast moving and that was all they really needed to be. The two micro-drones slammed into the alien fighters hull bypassing its shield as if didn't exist and exploded as their kinetic force turned straight into energy that instantly turned the enemy fighter into a fireball.

Unfortunately he didn't have time to celebrate, as six of the alien fighters were breaking off their attack on the Asgard ships and heading right towards him and his comrade's lava-like plasma balls shooting forth from them, forcing all five fighters to take evasive action to avoid being struck.

They were not entirely successful.

A single plasma bolt caught the edge of Adam's wing and sent him tumbling. Grunting Adam brought his fighter out of its spin with great effort, though the plasma had been deflected by his shields the impact had been massive and momentarily disrupted his controls, and came around. Just in time for the alien fighter to come towards him again on a vector that would cross his path.

Grinning he waited until the most opportune moment, when he couldn't miss, and fired as series of four twin ion bolts at his adversary. The alien took the hits solidly, the first three twin pulses obliterating its shield, allowing the last two to smash into the hull and send the ship to its doom in a momentary flash of fire. Only for another fighter to take its place, firing as it did so forcing him to dodge one again while firing another pair of micro-drones back in retaliation, this time the plasma sailed past in a clean miss though is own weapons being capable of guiding themselves slammed into the alien and sent it to its doom.

His subspace radio came to life even as the flash of his latest kill faded. "Whirlwind get your people over here," Bison's voice said. "The _General O'Neill's_ starboard shields are failing we need help getting these fighters off her."

"Roger that, Bison, we're on our way," Adam answered bringing his fighter around, but unable to resist sending a micro-drone into the aft section of a passing alien fighter, promptly snapping the ship in half and eliciting a spray of ice crystals as the aquatic environment of the fighters interior spilled into space and instantly froze. "Okay people you heard him," he said switching frequencies to speak to the rest of his wing. "Let's go."

Without waiting for a response he headed straight for the _General O'Neill_. Even from here it was obvious that the Asgard flagship was in trouble, she'd developed a pronounced list to starboard and her shields were glowing fiercely as they fought to repel bombardment from what were four alien capital ships and dozens more fighters. Thor's ship was still fighting back, lashing out with every weapon she could bring to bear on the enemy but the brightness of the beams and pulses was less than before indicating that weapons power had been reduced to shunt more energy to try and shore up failing shields.

A pair of Asgard O'Neill-class battlecruisers, a Jaffa mothership and the _Repulse_ were fighting their way through the enemy forces that had broken into their lines to assist the besieged ship but Adam was not at all certain they would reach her in time to do anything to help her.

He didn't have any more time to think about it. For at that moment the _General O'Neill_ swept past above him, and then he was in the middle of a major fighter free for all.

"Tally ho," he said softly in his ancestor's traditional battle-cry before diving into the fray, hammering an alien fighter with his ion blasters, instantly blowing it to smithereens.

* * *

**Asgard Vessel General O'Neill**

Supreme Commander Thor held onto the armrests of his command throne as the _General O'Neill_ shuddered again and again under the merciless pummelling of the alien forces. This battle was not going as well as he would have liked, their unknown antagonists had successfully drawn off supporting ships leaving his damaged ship to face bombardment concentrated on their damaged starboard flank. While the few operational starboard weapons arrays fired back in defiance – and indeed had managed to overwhelm the shields on one alien capital ship and destroy it – it wasn't enough.

"Shield status," Thor ordered as another hit set the ship shaking fiercely.

"Starboard shields are down to fire percent, supreme commander," one of the bridge crew reported as grimly as an Asgard could. "They cannot withstand another attack."

Thor nodded in understanding, once the starboard shields fell he knew the _General O'Neill_ would be destroyed in relatively short order, especially if the alien forces targeted the section of the hull that had been so badly damaged by the collision with the _San Andreas_ during the alien's earlier telepathic attack. Damage control systems and automated repair systems were already stressed on that side of the ship, the internal force fields that could normally contain explosions weakened; they wouldn't protect the ship for very long.

But maybe, just maybe, it would be long enough.

"Status of forward shields," Thor ordered as an idea blossomed in his mind, the death of the _General O'Neill_ was inevitable – that was obvious and it filled him with rage though like other Asgard he wasn't ruled by his emotions the way Humans and Jaffa were; but maybe there was away to use the ship to strike one last defiant blow against the enemy ships that were tearing her apart.

"Supreme Commander our forward shields are at sixty percent," tactical reported. Had he been Human, Thor would have smiled grimly. Perfect.

"Navigation bring us about to face the enemy head on, divert all power to shields and engines then set a collision course," Thor ordered. "Set forward weapons to automatic fire until the capacitors are drained. The enemy will destroy this ship but it will not be without a severe cost to them."

"Yes supreme commander."

As the bridge crew carried out his orders Thor manipulated his chair controls for a ship wide comm. channel. "This is Supreme Commander Thor," he said. "I am ordering an immediate evacuation of this vessel, all personnel to emergency escape pods or transportation stations. Evacuate the ship immediately."

"Collision course set, supreme commander," the navigation officer reported.

"Power transferred to shields, forward shields at seventy-five percent. Starboard shields at forty percent, port and aft shields at seventy percent," tactical added. "Automatic targeting program ready."

"Start the program, initiate collision course," Thor instructed.

"Yes supreme commander." While the crew carried out his instructions Thor again manipulated his controls, entering his personal command code and used it to arm the _General O'Neill's_ self destruct sequence.

"Its time to go," Thor said as fresh alien attacks shook the _General O'Neill_. "Activate emergency transporters."

As soon as he spoke, every Asgard on the bridge pressed a specific control on the arms of their control thrones. Instantly the transporters activated, enveloping all of them in silver-white light, instantly transporting them off the bridge and off the ship directing them into the transporter arrays of any nearby allied ship. Simultaneously Asgard all over the ship who'd not been able to get to the cocoon-like escape pods vanished in the transporter effect. As they vanished a series of dull thuds resonated through the now abandoned hull of the _General O'Neill_ as the escape pods launched themselves clear of the doomed ship.

* * *

Now abandoned by her crew the _General O'Neill_ surged forward, propelled by every dreg of power her inertia less engines could give her, towards the four Sinhindrea battlecruisers that had been intent on her destruction. As she shot forward every one of her forward weapons arrays including the heavy particle disruptor beam in the centre of the hammerhead went into continuous fire, targeting any nearby Sinhindrea vessels, fighter and capital ship alike. Ship after ship vanished, either sliced in half by plasma beams or reduced to dust by the particle disruptors.

Moving to evade the curtain of firepower the four Sinhindrea battlecruisers continued to rain plasma fire down upon the charging dreadnought, pummelling her weakened shields. Despite the pounding the Hammond-class ship kept coming driving forward towards the formation of Sinhindrea warships. Realising the ships intention the Sinhindrea increased their rate of fire pounding the _General O'Neill's_ shields with volley after volley of plasma fire.

As powerful as they were the Asgard shields flared and buckled under the onslaught allowing antiproton-based plasma bolts to slam into the _General O'Neill's_ forward hull, scorching and pitting the tough neutronium/trinium/carbon alloy that was used to by the Asgard to armour the ships hull.

Still the _General O'Neill_ kept moving, accelerating constantly towards the Sinhindrea. A plasma ball impacted one of the forward plasma beam cannons just as it was about to fire, setting off a massive explosion as the two incompatible masses of plasma detonated. The explosion tore a chuck the size of a city block out of the hammerhead forward section, but still the Asgard ship continued on its final run, debris and venting atmosphere leaving a shimmering slick behind it.

Understanding finally came to the crews of the Sinhindrea capital ships, desperately the four battlecruisers attempted to evade the charging warship.

It was too little, too late.

The _General O'Neill_ sailed into the middle of the enemy formation and for a moment seemed to glow, before erupting into a massive storm of energy and fire as its self-destruct fired. A massive energy wave slammed into all four Sinhindrea warships, enveloping them in a energetic maelstrom they had never been designed to withstand. Shields on all four vessels flared out of existence within a handful of seconds, allowing the raging energy storm to tear at their hulls, and the vulnerable energy globes at the back of the ships.

As the glare of the _General O'Neill's_ explosive death faded away, all four Sinhindrea battlecruisers erupted into fireballs as there energy globes detonated with a force that momentarily seemed to rip space apart.

* * *

**TFS Repulse**

Supreme Commander Thor blinked as the transporter beam released him; carefully he looked around to see exactly where the emergency transport had sent him. It was immediately obvious from the copper coloured walls and the arched design of the ceiling inset with glowing crystals that he was on a Tau'ri warship and from the width of the corridors a large one. No one else to Thor's knowledge used this style of interior for there vessels other than the Tau'ri – and they only did it for the aesthetic pleasure, and the fact that it was away for them to connect with the long vanished Ancients who had been their parents for lack of a better word.

The ship shook around him, making him stumble slightly due to the momentary loss of gravitational stability, obviously like many vessels in the fleet this one whichever ship it was, was engaged in battle with the enemy. More shots impacting against the shields made their presence felt but Thor ignored them as he finished getting his bearings. It was hard to tell where he was on the ship, let alone which warship he was on, as the corridors around him looked very much the same.

After a moment he didn't have to worry about where he was as a security marine came around a bend in the corridor ahead and came right towards him. "Supreme Commander Thor," the marine asked as the ship shuddered again under enemy fire. Faintly Thor could fell the thrum of energy going through the deck beneath him as the ship returned fire.

"Yes," Thor confirmed not at all surprised that the marine had recognised him despite the fact that they had never met before. Most people in the Tau'ri Federation knew who he was, knew his face, even if they would never meet in person. "Can you please tell me what ship I am on?" he asked.

"You're on the _Repulse,_ sir," the marine answered. "Admiral Hawkins is waiting for you on the flag bridge."

Thor nodded, a little relieved that he was on the Tau'ri flagship, from here he would be able to at least get a sense of how the battle was going. As the shockwaves of fresh fire smashing into the shields made there way through the ship he realised that the battle was probably still going strong and possibly escalating in intensity.

"If you'll follow me, sir," the marine said. "I'll take you to the flag bridge."

"Then by all means lead the way," Thor replied, stumbling as the ship shuddered again. The marine nodded.

"This way, sir," he said before turning and walking away, deliberately keeping his strides short so Thor would be able to keep up with him. Thor followed, grateful for the fact that the marine was being as polite as it was difficult enough for an Asgard to match even a normal Human walking pace. If the marine had hurried he would have no chance of keeping up and would swiftly end up getting lost in the maze of corridors, passageways and chambers of the interior of this massive warship.

* * *

It took a good five minutes for Thor to reach the heavy trinium/carbon doors to the flag bridge. In that time the _Repulse_ had began to shake with more and more frequency and more and more violence. It was obvious that the ship was heavily engaged against the enemy, and there was no doubt in Thor's mind that the massive amount of firepower the _Repulse_ carried was tearing through almost every enemy capital ship foolish enough to challenge her.

Slowly the blast doors opened allowing Thor access to the flag bridge. As he stepped through onto the bridge another hit shook the ship and a stream of sparks abruptly shot out of a panel at the back of the bridge. Evidence that the hits against the shields were starting to put some stress on the ships systems, stress that was causing overloads.

"Somebody lock down that conduit," Admiral Helena Hawkins ordered from her command chair at the centre of the flag bridge. "Hello, Thor," she added as Thor approached her position. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine, Admiral Hawkins," Thor replied stumbling as the ship shuddered again. "Do you know where my crew are? What ships they were transported to?"

"Your crew are spread out on a number of ships across the fleet," Helena replied before pressing her hand down on one of the interface panels on her chair and giving a mental command to the ships computer. Immediately a number of ships on the tactical display momentarily flashed with orange light. "The ships highlighted in orange are the vessels with survivors of the _General O'Neill _aboard."

Thor nodded and looked at the high resolution screens that the Tau'ri favoured over holographic displays, at least for the most part. His crew was scattered over a dozen warships, most of them Tau'ri though a handful of his own peoples ships had them, some were even on one of the Jaffa ships.

Then Thor noted the bigger tactical situation and came as close to scowling as an Asgard could. The situation was not good, the third enemy assault wave had come in while the fleet was still engaged against the remains of the second assault wave. The combined assault had broken through the fleets lines, forcing ships to fight the enemy one on one; the aliens fighter force had also been fully intact and was making its presence felt, strongly by forcing ships to divide fire between them and the capital ships.

As he watched three fleet ship icons disappeared from the display indicating that those ships had been destroyed by the enemy. Two of the destroyed ships had been the blue chevrons of Tau'ri capital ships; one had been the silver chevron of one of his own people's ships.

"The tactical situation is not good," he said softly.

"No it isn't," Helena agreed as the ship shuddered again. "Nearly half the fleet has been destroyed. The enemy fleet has broken through, our lines are falling apart."

"We have to withdraw," Thor said knowing that this first battle with the enemy was lost. With there lines compromised and half their forces decimated there could be no victory now, if they stayed they would be destroyed.

"I have to agree," Helena answered with a sigh, she hated the thought of running from a fight, but she knew better than to stay here. Like Thor she knew if they stayed it would be the deaths of everyone under her overall command.

And that was something she could not allow.

* * *

**Lieutenant Swenson's Fighter**

**A Few Moments Later**

Lieutenant Adam 'Whirlwind' Swenson swore as the alien fighter stuck to his tail like it was being held there by superglue. No matter what evasive manoeuvre he pulled, his antagonist stayed there and kept trying to nail him with its deadly plasma pulse.

"A little help here," he said as he dodged another lava-like energy bolt.

"Hang in there, Whirlwind I'm coming," Bison answered. Adam risked a glance at his HUD and smiled when he saw Bison swooping down from where he'd just destroyed an enemy fighter making a run for a damaged Asgard cruiser. A second later a pair of micro-drones from Bison's fighter slammed into the tailgating alien fighter instantly turning it into a fireball.

"Thanks, Bison," Adam said. "Where's the rest of the squadron?"

"Dead, we're all that's left, Adam," Bison answered.

"Damn it," Adam shouted angrily, out the corner of his eyes he saw a Agamemnon-class heavy cruiser explode under the combined firepower of two alien cruisers. "This battle is really turning into a mess."

"Tell me about it," Bison agreed as he slid his fighter into wingman position on Adam's port side.

"Attention all fighters, rondezvous with your carrier ships immediately," a voice said over all squadron command frequencies. "The fleet is withdrawing from battle. All ships return to the nearest fighter capable ship immediately and land."

"Must be worse than we thought if the admiral as ordered a retreat," Bison said. "Okay you heard them let's go." As he spoke Bison's fighter veered away and set course for the closest allied ship with a hanger capable of holding a Hornet fighter. In this case the battleship _Tambora_ – a battleship that was already starting to turn to retreat into hyperspace – guns still hammering away at an enemy warship, pounding its shields with ion bolts.

"Right behind you, Bison," Adam replied following his superior and only surviving squadron mates fighter. As he did so he noticed large sphere beginning to drop out of multiple fleet ships and the yellow streams of drones started emerging from every one of his own peoples ships, the fleet was firing drones and dropping naquada-enhanced antimatter mines.

As he watched the deploying mines shimmered and vanished into cloak, as soon as the fleet was clear he knew they would arm ready to give any enemy who endeavoured to pursue them a very nasty surprise. Grinning at the thought of the nasty surprise the mines would be Adam guided his fighter towards the _Tambora_.

* * *

_The Sinhindrea High Fleet Lord scowled as it observed the enemy fighters returning to their capital ships. Though his kind was victorious in this battle, the price had been high especially among the Younglings piloting the fighters. The inferiors had drawn a terrible toll in Sinhindrea blood, they could not be allowed to escape._

_Though the cyber-link with the ship the High Fleet Lord ordered all ships to press there attacks. Just as the familiar dreaded yellow streams of squid-like projectiles began appearing from some of the inferiors ships again as they began launching more of there deadly little missiles._

_As had been the case for most of the battle the alien weapons were targeted on the Younglings, and turned their hunting formations into chaos as the deadly weapons penetrated their shields to turn the fighters into fireballs._

_The High Fleet Lords blood burned with rage as it observed whole wings of fighters being swept from the stars by the lethal streams, and still the carnage went on. Within moments all bar a few hundred fighters had been destroyed and those that had survived were not in range to stop the last of the inferiors fighters from docking with their ships._

_As the last fighter docked the inferiors began moving, firing heavy salvos at the few Sinhindrea capital ships in any position to stop them. Determined not to let the inferiors escape the Sinhindrea fleet increased speed and began persuing the enemy._

_They ran straight into hell._

_Abruptly brilliant white explosions erupted from seemingly empty space, enveloping dozens of ships and sending them to their doom. The huge energy wash blinded sensors on all the Sinhindrea ships._

_As sensors cleared the High Fleet Lord saw the enemy fleet opening hyperspace windows and vanishing inside, escaping rightful Sinhindrea vengeance. Another brilliant white explosion shattered space and another ship went up. Understanding came as sensors cautiously probed the dissipating plasma cloud that had been a ship and revealed the characteristic traces of an explosive agent, specifically antimatter but laced with an unknown mineral._

_Mines, the inferiors had deployed mines as they retreated. Pursuit was impossible now._

_Seething but unable to do anything about it, the High Fleet Lord gave a final order._

_Silently the remains of the Sinhindrea fleet turned away and opened there own hyperspace windows – returning to their home space. But there was no jubilation amongst them, they'd beaten the inferiors invasion fleet but they has also suffered a defeat, because they had failed to completely defeat the enemy, failed to show them that the Sinhindrea were a power beyond comprehension, hunger beyond understanding. _

_So it was with a mixed sense of anger and frustration that the Sinhindrea headed for home, with the lesson untaught there task was only just beginning. They would have to build more ships, ready for when the inferiors came again as they were sure to. Inferiors never learned._

_When the inferiors came again the High Fleet Lord knew the Sinhindrea would be ready, ready to teach them the age old lesion._

_Right before they consumed them._


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Bridge**

**TFS Jutland, That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie had to fight to keep a straight face at the look of total astonishment that he could see on Commander Sinclair's face. He hadn't really wanted to open visual communication with Babylon Five yet but there really hadn't been much of a choice, and he had to admit the look on the space stations commanding officers face certainly made it worthwhile. He could imagine the thoughts going through Sinclair's head, especially as everything they knew about the Earth Alliance told them that they were not familiar with the idea that Humans could come from other worlds besides Earth and her colonies.

He guessed that it was understandable. There didn't appear to be any Goa'uld in this universe, so there had been no one to spread primitive Humans across the length and breadth of this galaxy to serve as slaves, worshippers and hosts. In away it made Aaron envious, the absence of the Goa'uld had allowed other species to thrive, species that he was sure in his own universe had been destroyed as threads by the System Lords.

"Your, your," Commander Sinclair started to say.

"In away, commander," Aaron answered with a smile. "But we are not from anywhere you know not Earth nor any of her colonies."

Sinclair frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand," he said though Aaron clearly heard a note of suspicion in his voice.

"It's quite complicated, commander," Aaron answered. "And I don't believe that this is the best means to talk about it, nor is it the correct time."

The frown on Sinclair's face deepened. "That doesn't tell me a lot," he pointed out. "Where are you from? Who are you? Are you Human?"

"As I said commander it is complicated," Aaron replied. "As for who we are I will tell you this for now, we are the descendants of a species called the Alterans. But you may know them as the Ancients or as the builders of Atlantis."

"Atlantis as in the lost city?" Sinclair asked.

"The same and it is far from lost commander," Aaron answered. "We have much to talk about, and I have a mission to complete but I cannot do that without your cooperation commander. What is your decision?"

"Very well, I will convene the Babylon Five Advisory Council and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to hear what you have to say. When would you like to come onboard?"

"Whenever is convenient for you, Commander Sinclair," Aaron replied with a smile. "I have time, just tell us when you would like us to come aboard and we will."

"Understood, it will take some time for the League to gather together in the council chambers, shall we say two hours?"

"That is quite acceptable commander; we will see you in two hours time. _Jutland_ out," Aaron replied before giving a mental command through his chairs control interface, breaking the communications link himself rather than having communications do it.

"Helmsman move us into a parking orbit over Epsilon Three," Aaron ordered.

"Aye sir."

* * *

**Command and Control**

**Babylon Five**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair stared at the now vanished image of the _Jutland's_ commanding officer, whoever he was. He still couldn't believe that the Tau'ri were Humans, or at least they looked Human. Though the fact that they were Human certainly explained the name of their ship, but where had they come from? Who were they really? And did Atlantis really still exist was that ancient legend true after all?

"Commander may I ask a question," Delenn said from where she had been watching and listening quietly. She was as shocked as he seemed to be that the Tau'ri were another race of Humans – ones who claimed to be descended from some species called the Alterans and who seemed to far more technologically advanced than there Earther brethren. A fact she knew would not sit well with some of the other members of Grey Council when she reported these events to them. She imagined the warrior caste members would go as the Humans put it absolutely daft.

"Certainly ambassador," Jeff replied turning to look at Delenn, and seeing his own surprise and confusion mirrored in her beautiful if alien features.

"What is Atlantis?" Delenn asked. "The Tau'ri commander implied that that is where they come from."

Sinclair sighed. "It's an ancient legend of my people, Delenn," he answered. "The legend goes that Atlantis was an island nation on ancient Earth, a nation with highly advanced science and technology. They supposedly taught all the other civilisations of the ancient world from the Egyptians and the Minoans to the Maya and the Aztecs how to build a civilisation.

"But the legend then says that Atlantis became corrupted by its power and was punished by one or more of the many gods our ancestors worshipped. According to the legend in a single day and night of misfortune Atlantis was utterly destroyed - vanishing beneath the sea never to be seen again. In the thousands of years that have passed since then there have been many attempts to find evidence that Atlantis really existed, but nothing has ever been found and it is generally accepted now that Atlantis never really existed."

"I see," Delenn replied, she wasn't well versed in Human mythology, she would have to have Lennier do a study of the subject and report his findings to her as her duties both her official ones as Minbari ambassador and her unofficial task of keeping an eye on the carrier of Valen's soul kept her far to busy to do such a study herself. She suspected that it would be a very revealing study – though like most things with Humans it would probably not be entirely comprehensible to Minbari minds.

"If you'll excuse me commander I must go and prepare for the council meeting," Delenn said after a moments thought.

"Of course, ambassador," Sinclair replied earning a small smile from Delenn before the mysterious Minbari woman walked around the perimeter of C&C and left.

"Commander the _Jutland _is moving," Lieutenant Corwin reported from the console pit. "There heading into geosynchronous orbit of Epsilon Three."

Sinclair frowned slightly, that generally wasn't done anymore. Since the presence of the Great Machine had become known parking orbits around Babylon Five had been changed to give the planet a wide birth. In the months that had passed since Draal had taken custody of the Great Machine no ship had really gone into orbit of Epsilon Three as no one wanted to take the risk of appearing hostile and getting hit by one of the Great Machine's powerful ground to space particle beams, beams that were an order of magnitude more powerful than anything this side of Vorlon weapons.

"Any reaction from Draal," he asked.

"Negative," Corwin responded. "The planet is quite, no power spikes at all. If he's aware of the _Jutland_ at all Draal appears to be ignoring them."

As the young officer spoke the doors to the observation dome that housed command and control slid open and a flustered looking Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova came in, she looked bizarrely out of place in her off duty civilian clothes.

"Susan," Sinclair said in greeting.

"Commander I was informed that an unknown alien ship was on approach and that its sensors were disrupting our systems," Susan replied.

"Its alright it's been dealt with. It's the Tau'ri and they'll be coming aboard to meet with the Advisory Council and the League in two hours time," Jeff replied. "You can go back to whatever you were doing until your duty shift starts."

"I see. Commander there is something else you need to know, something that happened near the casino and then in Medlab One that I suspect is the reason why the Tau'ri have come here at this time."

"Go on."

Ivanova nodded and carefully began out lining everything that had happened with the man who called himself Michael Tayman. How two drunken Drazi had set on him outside the casino, how he'd pounded the one into the floor before being stabbed with a poison tipped Drazi knife and been taken to Medlab. Then she outlined what Stephen had found out, that despite appearances Michael Tayman was not Human at least not like they were. Finally she explained how Tayman had literally vanished in a flash of silver-white light mere seconds after the Tau'ri ship had arrived and scanned the station.

By the time she was done Jeffery Sinclair was frowning and mentally comparing what his first officer had told him to what the _Jutland's_ commanding officer had said. Especially how he had implied that while they were Human they weren't Human in the way that people from the Earth Alliance were, if the Tau'ri were all like this Michael Tayman then those words suddenly made sense.

"It's possible that Tayman could well be a Tau'ri," he said thoughtfully.

"That was my thought," Susan admitted. "But where did he disappear to in that flash of light? Was he somehow transported to the _Jutland_?"

"I suppose it's possible," Sinclair replied. "They could have the technology to teleport someone or something elsewhere. I've never heard of anyone other than the Vree possessing anything like such a device but what we've seen of the probe indicates that Tau'ri technology – if the probe was sent by them – is very different to anything we've ever seen. We'll have to ask them when they come aboard."

"We can do a lot more than that, considering they've been spying on us," Susan pointed out knowing they would be well within there rights to demand an explanation for their behaviour from the Tau'ri. Whether they would get one though was another matter entirely.

"We could but we won't," Sinclair answered. "We will handle this matter with the utmost tact and diplomacy, lieutenant commander. What little information we have on the Tau'ri so far indicates that they are much more powerful than the Minbari, other than that they are largely a mystery to us and everyone around here aside for the Vorlons and they're typically not talking."

Susan Ivanova sighed slightly. Being diplomatic was not one of her strong points, though there were times when she had to play diplomat. And this was one of those times; especially given the fact that there was a Tau'ri warship sitting off the station, a warship that she didn't doubt could burn them from the stars in short order. Still it was frustrating that she would not be able to demand answers from the Tau'ri for whatever it was they were up to here on Babylon Five before their cruiser arrived.

"I understand, sir," she said at last though her tone indicated that she didn't like it one bit.

"Good now…." Sinclair started to say.

"Commander," Lieutenant Corwin called out.

"What is it lieutenant," Sinclair asked.

"Security just linked in; the alien probe is gone from the maintenance bay. Playback from security cameras indicate it vanished in a silver-white flash of light a few moments after the Tau'ri cruiser appeared," Corwin reported.

"They must have taken it back the same way they took, Tayman or whatever his name really was," Ivanova said thoughtfully. "You know I really get the impression that there is something's about the Tau'ri that they don't want us to know."

"Everyone has secrets, Susan," Sinclair pointed out. On Babylon Five there was no greater truism than the fact that no one was quite what they appeared to be. "The Tau'ri are no different."

"True," Susan replied with a sigh. "I suppose I better go and get ready then, ready for when they come aboard."

"There is no rush, Susan. We've got two hours before they come over here."

"You know me I like to be ready."

"Well in that case you can get into uniform and then start arranging for the Advisory Council and the League to gather in the council chambers, and to sort out a delegation to meet the Tau'ri when they come onboard. In the meantime I will advise Earth Force Command of what happened."

"Aye sir."

* * *

**EAS Agamemnon**

**In Hyperspace, Sometime Later**

Former Earth Alliance president turned special ambassador Elizabeth Levy sighed as she stretched out on the sofa in the VIP quarters assigned to her. Omega-class destroyers like the _Agamemnon_ were considerably larger than the warships she had travelled on when she had still been president, not to mention it had the illusion of gravity begin created by the rotational habitation section; consequently the VIP quarters were larger and in all respects more comfortable.

She had spent the last few hours going over what little information they had on the Tau'ri, what little had been learned from the initial contact by the _Cortez_, to preliminary analysis of the presumably Tau'ri probe encountered at Babylon Five. It made for a slim file and had not revealed much that she could use to plan a decent diplomatic procedure to use when they contacted them. Assuming the Tau'ri agreed to face to face meeting and didn't just insist that the _Agamemnon_ leave their space, an insistence that they would have to honour or risk a serious diplomatic incident.

After a moment the door hailer gave a series of bleeps indicating that someone wanted to come in. _Now who could that be,_ she thought as the hailer went off again. Clearly whoever was outside wanted to speak with her urgently.

"Come in," she called as she got up off the sofa wincing at the stab of arthritis in her knees as she did so. It was a constant reminder that she was not as young as she used to be. The door swung open with the familiar humming sound, and Captain John Sheridan came into the room.

"Forgive me for disturbing you ambassador but a situation has developed that you need to be made aware of," Sheridan said.

"It's alright, captain I wasn't doing anything," Elizabeth answered before gesturing for the _Agamemnon's_ master to take a seat. "Please captain sit down."

"Thank you, ma'am," Sheridan replied before sitting down in one of the chairs, it was more comfortable than the chairs in his own quarters as he would have expected in the few VIP suits that there were onboard his ship.

"You're welcome," Elizabeth answered before resuming her seat on the sofa. "Now captain tell me what is so important that you came down here to see me yourself."

"We've just received an ultraviolet priority transmission from EarthGov and Earth Force Command," Sheridan replied making Elizabeth frown in concern. Ultraviolet was the highest level of priority that could be attached to any EarthGov or Earth Force transmission, and as such was only ever used for deadly serious situations.

"What did they say," she asked.

"There has been a development with the Tau'ri," Sheridan answered. "One of their warships – from the report the same one that the _Cortez_ encountered – has travelled to Babylon Five. From what they told Commander Sinclair they're there to make peaceful contact with all the races in this part of space."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "That was quick," she said recalling that the _Cortez_ had only encountered the Tau'ri a few days ago. "I know Sinclair will be able to handle the responsibility of the contact with his usual skill. So what does EarthGov want us to do?"

"The president wants us to continue our mission and make formal contact with the Tau'ri, but we are now to do it at Babylon Five."

"I see. I suppose that is for the best, we don't want the other races getting the impression that we're trying to get solo access to the Tau'ri."

"Yes ma'am, and there is something else. Something incredible that was revealed when the Tau'ri ship hailed Babylon Five."

"Oh?"

"Yes ma'am, it appears that the Tau'ri are Human."

"What! How the hell can that be?"

"I have no idea madam ambassador, if my wife had still been alive she could have probably given us some kind of explanation," Sheridan said his expressive greyish brown eyes dark with a still raw pain and grief. Though Anna had been dead for over a year now to John Sheridan her death was still a gaping wound in a soul, a searing pain in his heart that refused to go away. Not that he deserved it to as it was his fault that Anna had been on the _Icarus_ in the first place.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your wife, captain," Elizabeth said. "She was a very intelligent and special woman."

"Yeah she was," Sheridan replied taking a deep shuddering breath and bringing his emotions back under control. The very last thing he wanted was to break down here in front of his VIP passenger, it would be embarrassing and he had already cried enough tears at his wife's loss to last a lifetime.

"Anyway as I was saying," he continued. "The Tau'ri appear to be Human though they claim that they are not from Earth or any of our colonies."

"But that's impossible, studies done after the Centauri contact proved that Humanity evolved on Earth."

"I don't pretend to understand it ma'am. The Tau'ri commander did mention something to do with the ancient legend of Atlantis."

Elizabeth blinked slightly. "Atlantis," she repeated. "What does an ancient legend have to do with the Tau'ri?"

"The Tau'ri commander implied that they have something to do with it or it has something to do with them. He also said that Atlantis is not as lost as the legend says."

"Stranger and stranger," Elizabeth said softly. "I can but hope that Commander Sinclair has some answers for us by the time we get to Babylon Five. I assume we have already changed course."

"We have, it will take us three days to reach Babylon Five from here. We're also to meet up with two more ships on the way, a pair of cruisers that Earth Force Command has decided will be essential to the mission."

Elizabeth Levy rolled her eyes. She could guess why Earth Force Command was really assigning those cruisers to support the _Agamemnon_. They wanted to make sure Earth got first dips on any advanced technology the Tau'ri decided to share. She knew that ever since the Minbari War certain elements of Earth Force had been desperate to get their hands on more advanced technologies – they said to make sure no one could ever threaten Earth with extinction again – and that they would go to any lengths to secure that technology. She would have thought they would have learned there lesson after what had happened to the _Hyperion_ during the Great Machine incident, but obviously they hadn't.

"I see," she said.

"So do I ma'am," Sheridan answered looking a bit like he didn't approve of the presence of the cruisers either. It was one of the things she liked about John Sheridan he didn't miss much and had a strong moral centre, unlike many of his fellow captains, many of whom would not be senior officers let alone the commanding officers of warships if it hadn't been for the Minbari War.

"We will have to watch them carefully captain," she said. "Do we know which cruisers they are?"

"The _Pandora_ under Captain Trevor Hall and the _Nautilus_ under Captain Eric Mendoza," Sheridan replied. "Mendoza is a good man, its Hall we'll have to watch."

"Especially as Hall has a powerful friend in Vice President Clark," Elizabeth said with a sigh. "Hall is a career minded opportunist if ever there was one, his kind always lead to trouble. It's sad to see that some people in Earth Force Command have not learned from what happened with Jankowski and the _Prometheus_."

"I guess so ma'am," Sheridan answered non-commitment though he knew the former president was right. Hell he himself had warned General Lefcourt that Jankowski was something of a loose cannon and not the right person to send to the Minbari border, but had been ignored. He often wondered if someone other than Jankowski had been at the border if the war with Minbari would have started at all. Still he couldn't say that out loud, especially to his high-ranking passenger.

"You can relax captain I'm not going to put you in a position where you have to make judgements on your fellow officers," Elizabeth replied with a smile and almost laughed when Sheridan visibly relaxed. "Is there anything else?"

"Not that I can think of ma'am."

"Very well, you can go now then captain. This change of orders has given me quite a lot to think about."

"Yes ma'am," Sheridan replied before standing up and leaving the VIP quarters to return to his place on the _Agamemnon's_ bridge.

Alone in her quarters once more Elizabeth Levy sighed and leaned back in her chair. This was a most unexpected development, though she welcomed it. It would be better to meet the Tau'ri in the more public setting of Babylon Five than meeting them more secretly. It would certainly present fewer diplomatic headaches with the other races as it would show Earth wasn't seeking an undue advantage over the other races – though it probably wouldn't make that much difference as she knew what the other races – especially those in the League of non-Aligned Worlds – could be like. But it was also more awkward in that Vice President Clark was bound to here what was going on and send some of this 'Earth First' flunkies along to 'assist' her. _Or more likely try and take control of the mission from me,_ she thought, _though if William Morgan Clark starts to think he can sideline me in this then he is going to have another thing coming._

After a moment she sighed. She was going to have to be more cautious from here on in, though the threat of Vice Presidential interference wouldn't stop her from carrying out her mission. She would do what Luis Santiago had asked her to do and establish good diplomatic relations with the Tau'ri. It was all she could do for him now, and if it frustrated Clark and his isolationist, Earth First flunkies then it would be so much the better.

* * *

**Vice Presidents Office**

**Earth Dome, Geneva, Earth**

**That Same Time**

William Morgan Clark felt like screaming in anger and frustration as he threw down the data-pad he had been reading. Damn Santiago for going behind his back and directly asking Elizabeth Levy to be special ambassador to the Tau'ri, circumventing the diplomatic service in general. It was infuriating and insulting, not to mention it was against the way things were generally done. He was the one who normally decided who was assigned to perform diplomatic duties, not the president though it was not against the constitution for the president to do so.

"Damn you, Santiago," he said softly. If the other man had followed the normal way things were done then he William Morgan Clark would have assigned a more appropriate ambassador to the task of establishing relations with the Tau'ri. An ambassador that knowing what they knew now about the Tau'ri would do his or her level best to ensure that the Tau'ri recognised that they should share their advanced technology with Earth and Earth alone. After all if the Tau'ri were as Human as they appeared to be then their technology rightly belonged to Earth by right of blood.

After a moment he signed. There was nothing he could do about Elizabeth Levy's appointment now; he couldn't even call Santiago on it in the senate. Though she had been retired from politics for a number of years the former president still commanded an enormous amount of respect in the senate. Respect that he grudgingly had to acknowledge was well earned given how she had kept the alliance together during and in the immediate aftermath of the Minbari War. Elizabeth Levy's appointment as special ambassador would be rubber stamped by the senate the moment the senators learned of it.

Picking up the data pad again and starting to read though it he smiled when he saw that one of his allies among the generals had been able to assign two cruisers to support the _Agamemnon_ in her mission to Babylon Five. His smile widened when he saw that one of the cruisers was commanded by Trevor Hall – the man was loyal to the order he was slowly building behind the scenes and could be trusted to keep him up to date on what Levy did. He would be sure to reward Hall's loyalty when The Plan came to fruition.

The Plan.

Clark smiled slightly. He could salvage this situation but he would have to be patient and wait until after The Plan had been successfully executed on New Year's Day which was still a few weeks away. Once Santiago was deader than the dodo and the reigns of power transferred into his hands where they belonged then he would be able to have Elizabeth Levy replaced with someone a bit more – reasonable. Until then he would put up with her. Still he couldn't let the diplomatic service being bypassed go without some form of challenge, if he did then Santiago would become suspicious and that just would not do.

Calmly he transferred some of the report to a separate data pad – the part about Elizabeth Levy's appointment as special ambassador to the Tau'ri – and stood up. Putting on his best miffed expression he held the second pad close and stormed out of his office and down the hall towards Santiago's office.

The two Secret Service guards at the door took one look at his face and stepped aside to let him through. Ignoring them he stormed into the office, making the heavy oak doors rattle as he barrelled through, the sound of his entrance making Santiago look up from the pile of work on his desk.

"Something I can do for you, William," Luis Santiago asked.

"Yes, Luis you can explain this," he answered and dropped the pad down on Santiago's desk.

A faint smile peaked at the edges of Santiago's mouth, he had expected this to happen but still he played along. Calmly he picked up the pad and scanned through it.

"You mean the appointment of Elizabeth Levy as special ambassador to the Tau'ri," he asked.

"Yes why was I not consulted about this issue," Clark answered. "You know well that matters such as the appointment of ambassadors are best left to the diplomatic service, at very least I should have been consulted about the matter."

"There was no need, and you know full well that I have the authority to directly appoint special ambassadors should the need arise."

"I should have been informed. Elizabeth Levy has not represented Earth in any official capacity in five years. Why appoint her to this task? She'd earned the retirement she was enjoying."

"There was no one better suited," Luis answered. "With the retirement of David Sheridan due to his declining health, there was no one in the diplomatic service that I could call on with enough experience of dealing with first contacts with a more advanced race. The last thing we want is a repeat performance of what happened when the _Prometheus_ encountered the Minbari."

Clark scowled. "All the ambassadors in the diplomatic service are better trained for first contact than Captain Jankowski was," he pointed out playing along with the game that was politics. "I am sure they would have handled the issue with the appropriate amounts of tact and diplomacy."

"I couldn't take that risk. Militarily we are not in any shape to go through anything like the Minbari War again; you know that as well as I do. I would rather have someone with a proven track record of dealing with unknown and more technologically advanced cultures deal with the issue. Elizabeth was more than happy to take on the task when I explained it to her."

"Put that way it does make some sort of sense, but still I wish you'd consulted me. We could have assigned someone to assist her, someone familiar with our current political needs." _With your political goals you mean, William,_ Luis thought.

"You need not worry; Elizabeth is more than capable of handling the responsibility. She may be getting well into middle age but her mind is as sharp as it's always been. I apologise for not consulting you about her appointment but it's too late to change it now," Santiago said then smiled. "As it turns out Sinclair is the one who'll be making the initial diplomatic overtures, he's got the skills to do the job until Elizabeth gets there."

"I guess your right. I would have liked to have been consulted about her appointment but there is no use in crying over spilt milk."

"Indeed."

"So if you'll excuse me, Luis. I have an urgent appointment to keep."

"Of course go on."

Clark gave a small false politicians smile, before turning and leaving the presidential office. Luis Santiago watched him go. He was fully aware that this conversation had all be a show, Clarks way of telling him that he wasn't happy about him going behind Clarks back, not that Luis had to explain himself to the vice president, the senate were the only ones who could sensor his actions. The display had also told him something else, that Clark was up to something, which wouldn't surprise him one bit. _I'll keep an eye on him,_ he thought before turning his attention back to the mountain of work that came with being president of the Earth Alliance.

* * *

William Morgan Clark walked back to his office, outwardly he appeared to be as calm and serene as a mountain lake but inwardly he was still fuming at the appointment of Elizabeth Levy as special ambassador – especially as he had no influence over her. Though it was hard to dispute Santiago's reasons for assigning her to the position, Earth Force wasn't ready for another major war yet. Though that would change soon enough.

_Soon,_ he thought thinking of The Plan again, _soon I wont have to deal with that coward Santiago anymore. Soon I will be president of Earth and then all those aliens – the Tau'ri included – will learn we are not afraid of them anymore._

With effort he pulled himself out of his thoughts of The Plan and focused on the here and now. He was due to meet with Mr Morden and the others in the next half an hour, to go over the final details of The Plan as they prepared to execute it. He would use the opportunity to bring them up to speed on recent developments, especially the appearance of the Tau'ri.

He suspected they would be very interested. Very interested indeed.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Babylon Five **

**That Same Time**

Ambassador Delenn was deep in thought as she made her way through Babylon Five back towards her quarters. The revelation that the mysterious Tau'ri we're a Human-like race was weighing heavily on her mind. Indeed it was possible that they were as human as the Earthers – if that was the case the question was where did they come from? What was their relationship to the ancient legend of Atlantis that Commander Sinclair had just told her about? What had brought them to Babylon Five at this time? And what it meant for the war ahead?

She was still thinking about it, mulling over the possibilities in her head, when she arrived outside her quarters. On automatic pilot more than anything else she used her diplomatic identi-card to open the door and stepped inside. Bringing her mind back to the here and now she made her way over to her quarters data system, she needed to contact the rest of the Grey Council and inform them of these developments. She knew it would cause the Council concern – especially as they were so close to the fulfilment of Valen's prophecy, and especially on top of what she had reported to them a few hours earlier.

Though she had hidden it, Delenn had recognised the energy profile of the alien – Tau'ri – probe that Commander Sinclair had shown her earlier. It was the energy waveform generated by a rare mineral with a similar molecular structure to Quantium 40, a mineral the Minbari knew as nethrin. They'd discovered it on one of their research colonies nearly two centuries before and determined that it had the ability to generate huge volumes of energy. But experiments to harness its power in anything other than a very limited fashion had spectacularly failed, at a considerable cost to the Minbari in terms of lives and resources.

Since then the Grey Council had forbade any further research into the mineral. That another race had safely found a way to use it as a power source was cause for concern – as it pointed to a level of understanding of high energy physics that the Minbari had not quite been able to achieve. Though the fact that the Tau'ri apparently used nethrin as a power source would certainly explain the massive power signature the Earth Alliance Explorer Ship _Cortez_ had recorded.

"Computer," she said as she picked up a specialised data crystal.

"Online," the female voice of the computer responded.

"Access Minbari communications band, channel information from crystal port," Delenn continued and started to put the crystal in the port.

"That will not be necessary, Satai Delenn," a familiar male Minbari voice said from behind her. Delenn jumped and spun around.

To find herself face to face with Alyt Neroon of the Star Riders clan, a member of the warrior caste and commanding officer of the war cruiser _Ingata_

The last time they had met in these quarters events had not been as Delenn would have liked them to be, in no small part due to the Star Riders intransigence and willingness to disobey the wishes of the late Shai Alyt Branmer and display his body in a military spectacle, when Branmer's wishes had been for a simple cremation and have his ashes scattered in space near Minbar. A situation that Delenn as both a friend of Branmer and a Satai of the religious caste had been compelled to rectify – with the full support of the rest of the Grey Council.

"Neroon," she questioned. "What are you doing back on Babylon Five and how did you get in my quarters."

"My ship was patrolling our boarder with the Earthers when we received a transmission from Minbar about the fact that a race previously unknown to us is using nethrin as a power source," Neroon explained. "I was asked to come here and investigate, so I left the _Ingata_ on patrol and came by flyer, as to how I got in here, well the Earthers still have a few things to learn about security."

"I see," Delenn said quietly, and she did see. One of the things that the warrior caste did was train its members in overriding security locks in the facilities of potential enemies – the warriors weren't as good at it as the Anla'shok but they could get by. And it wasn't the first time that Neroon had bypassed security locks here on Babylon Five – he had broken into Commander Sinclair's quarters the last time he was here after all.

"Very well since you are here then you may as well help me," Delenn replied. "Please sit." Neroon nodded his head and sat down on the indicated couch. "Would you like something to drink?"

"I must confess to being a little thirsty," Neroon admitted. It had been a long journey by flyer from the _Ingata_ to Babylon Five and he'd come straight to these quarters to await Satai Delenn's return from her ambassadorial duties. Something that never ceased to confuse him as surely ambassadorial duties were below the dignity of one of the Grey Council – still he didn't question it as the Grey Council had to know what they were doing. And as the old Minbari saying went 'understanding is not required, only obedience'.

"Very well," Delenn said and went over to the counter on the other side of her quarters where she set about preparing a tea. For the moment she was out of fillie leaves and wouldn't get more till the next shipment arrived from Minbar, not that it mattered Human tea would do. Minbari of all three castes had become quite enamoured with the many varieties of tea the Humans grew on their homeworld and Minbar imported millions of tons of tea from Earth every year. It had been one of the first trade deals established between their two peoples after the war – and one that had proven immensely profitable for all concerned.

After a few minutes she returned carrying two cups of steaming hot Earl Grey tea, a delightful variety that Commander Sinclair had introduced her to.

"Thank you, Satai Delenn," Neroon said as Delenn put the steaming cup down in front of him.

"You are welcome, but I would ask Neroon that you not use my title as Satai here on Babylon Five," Delenn replied. "The wrong people could overhear and it would lead to certain awkward questions, questions that neither myself nor the Council wish to answer at this time. You will address me as ambassador or Delenn."

"As you wish, Delenn," Neroon answered before picking up the cup and taking a sip of the hot liquid. It was quite sweet and refreshing, though it was not a tea he recognised. "Interesting tea," he commented putting the cup down.

"It's a Human tea, a variety called Earl Grey, Commander Sinclair introduced me to it," Delenn explained. "Now then Neroon tell me why the warrior caste thought to send you here?"

"We have concerns, Delenn," Neroon admitted. "We are both aware of how dangerous nethrin can be, its use by another race is of concern to the warrior caste, as if they are using it for power then it is very likely that they have found weapons applications. We are simply concerned as to what that could mean for the defence of Minbar, should whichever race it is have hostile intentions towards us."

"I see," Delenn replied, she guessed this was the reason why Neroon was here. It was understandable that the warrior caste would be concerned about the possible weapons a race that had been able to harness nethrins power could have. The loss of the research colony on Talener III had shown how powerful nethrin detonations were. Anyone with nethrin powered weapons could be a serious threat, one that the warriors were well within their rights to investigate, warriors were after all charged with the defence of the whole Minbari Federation.

"While you have been here there have been developments on that front," she continued. Neroon looked at her in interest and carefully she explained the latest developments concerning the Tau'ri that they were most likely the ones who had sent the probe to Babylon Five prior to their warship turning up here. She also described the contact that she and Commander Sinclair had so recently had with said warship's commanding officer, and the shocking revelation that the Tau'ri were a race of Humans, but not Humans of Earth or her colonies. Lastly she told him of these Tau'ri's claim to instead be descendants of another race called the Alterans – a race no Minbari had ever heard of before.

It took a few minutes and when she finished Neroon sat still in shocked disbelief for a few moments. Then the warrior seemed to find his voice. "The Tau'ri are human but not from the Earth Alliance," he said stunned. "But how can that be? And who are the Alterans?"

"I suspect that Earth Alliance will be asking exactly the same question," Delenn replied. "During our conversation with the _Jutland__'s_ captain it was mentioned that the Tau'ri have something to do with an ancient Earth legend. A legend that states that eight thousand years ago there was an incredibly technologically advanced civilisation on Earth on an island called Atlantis. An island that was destroyed by some kind of natural calamity, from what Commander Sinclair told me about the legend I suspect probably a volcanic eruption, if the island ever existed in the first place.

"If the legend is true then it's possible that the survivors of Atlantis fled to space rather than integrate themselves with the primitive cultures that existed on Earth at the time," Delenn continued. "This would certainly explain the Tau'ri and their apparent level of technology, the question is, if they have been gone for eight thousand years or more, why come back now?"

"Indeed," Neroon agreed. "Though it is also possible that these 'Tau'ri' are lying, the ship could well be an alien vessel that some group of Earthers have taken over. It is dangerous to make too many assumptions from a single short conversation."

"True," Delenn replied. "But from the way the Tau'ri commander spoke I do not believe that they are familiar with Earth at all as it is now. At any rate a delegation from the _Jutland_ will be coming aboard Babylon Five within two hours, to formally make first contact with the Advisory Council and the League of Non-aligned Worlds.

"And there is something else to consider about the Tau'ri. The Vorlons have been behaving oddly ever since that probe arrived," she continued. "Three more Vorlons showed up here a few hours ago, my guess is in response to the presence of that probe."

"That's strange," Neroon commented, though he knew next to nothing about the enigmatic Vorlons he knew this kind of behaviour was most out of character for them. "They know something," he continued.

"That much is obvious," Delenn agreed.

Neroon sighed and shook his head. "I came here to investigate the presence of nethrin," he said. "Only to find that is one piece of a much larger puzzle."

"A puzzle that for the good of our people we must endeavour to answer, Neroon."

"Indeed, Delenn, indeed."

* * *

**Rivendell **

**A Few Minutes Later**

Governor Alison Shepherd sighed softly to herself as she stood on the balcony gazing out across the inland sea that was Rivendell's new home. Night was descending on this part of the planet, the sun disappearing beyond the western horizon painting the sky in a million different hues of pink, red and gold. The glow of the setting sun reflected off the water and the gleaming metal and crystal surfaces of Rivendell's towers, giving everything a strange timeless glow.

The beautiful scene was a sharp counterpart to her turbulent thoughts. Despite the best efforts of the research teams, Arwen and the copy of the Alteran database that filled Rivendell's computer banks they were no closer to finding a way home; though they had finally figured out that they had been sent here by a freakish accident, caused by the alien plasma weapons impacting their hyperspace window just as they transited to hyperspace – while surrounded by clouds of exotic dark matter. The combination of factors had momentarily ripped a hole in the fabric of the universe and hurled them flying out of their own reality – and into this one.

Unfortunately that same freakish combination of factors meant that getting home would be next to impossible, though the research teams would continue to search for a way. _I suppose there are worse places we could be stranded,_ Alison thought looking up at the slowly darkening sky. Beyond the pastel shades of sunset the first stars were beginning to twinkle in the night sky. _This planet has much of what we need to survive if we're stuck here,_ she thought, _there's enough naquada and trinium present to last a few centuries at the very least. Though if we're stuck we're going to need to find a source of neutronium or we're really going to have problems._

Faintly she heard footsteps coming from behind her but she ignored them and continued to look out at the horizon and the setting sun. After a moment Admiral Jacob Robyns – looking as immaculate as always in his off-white and brown uniform – appeared beside her and leaned on the balcony rail.

"It's a lovely sunset isn't it," he said.

"Yes it is," Alison agreed. "Much cleaner and crisper than the ones back home, but then there is no pollution left over from pre-space flight eras fouling up the atmosphere of this planet. It seems this world is completely primordial – aside from those decayed ruins on the eastern continent the _Jutland_spotted from orbit, there is no sign there was ever a civilisation on this world."

"That's true," Jacob agreed before looking over at her. "Your thinking about our position here aren't you."

"Yes, admiral I am," Alison replied. "Are you aware of the results of the analysis of how we got here?"

"Arwen sent a copy up to the _Achilles_ so yes I have seen it," Jacob replied. "It certainly makes sense, but it means that getting home will be next to impossible as we have no way to recreate the accident. Even if we could, there is no guarantee that it would send us where we wanted to go.

"Much as I don't want to admit it we're stuck here, possibly for ever," he continued. "We should consider following the recommendations of the Kasaki Plan."

For a moment Alison was silent, she knew what the Kasaki Plan was of course. Centuries ago during the early years of the Tau'ri Federation a government analyst called Kaito Kasaki had developed a plan to be executed in the event that a colony group ever found itself permanently cut off from the rest of the Federation. It laid out a step by step plan for building a new civilisation cut off from the rest of the Tau'ri race and the Stargate Network, something that they clearly were.

"Believe it or not I have been thinking about it," Alison admitted, "ever since I was shown the results of the analysis. We can continue searching for away home but in the meantime we should start following the directions of the plan. With the resources we have here on Rivendell and on this planet we're in a good position to do that, the only thing we're missing is a large supply of neutronium."

Jacob nodded, knowing that was a bit of a problem. Neutronium was a critical component in a lot of their technology; they wouldn't be able to do much with the limited stores of neutronium in Rivendell's storage bays.

"We have enough high quality refined naquada and the equipment to build at least three Stargates in addition to the one that's already here," he said. "We could dispatch a series of survey probes to scout surrounding systems for large enough deposits of neutronium. We certainly have enough materials on hand and enough personnel to build and staff a mining outpost."

Alison nodded in agreement. "You make a good point, admiral," she said. "All right I'll summon all section heads to a meeting. It would be an idea if you had as many of your ships captains present as possible since this effect's everyone."

"I agree," Jacob replied. "If you schedule the meeting, I'll make sure that as many of my captains are there as possible."

"Very well then. Arwen."

Immediately the holographic avatar of Rivendell's A.I appeared behind them. "Yes, Governor Shepherd," Arwen asked as they turned to face her.

"How many hyperspace capable planetary survey probes do we have and can they all be deployed at once," Alison asked.

"We have six class nine planetary survey probes which can be deployed simultaneously," Arwen answered. "Would you like me to deploy them?"

"Yes, deploy the probes searching surrounding systems for large deposits of neutronium," Alison ordered.

"Yes, Governor Shepherd," Arwen answered and inclined her head slightly as she carried out the command.

* * *

The moment Alison Shepherd gave the order Arwen sent a command flashing at the speed of light through the cities computer network to the three launcher mechanisms located at the tips of the north, south east and south west piers. Capable of launching everything from probes and small satellites to massive swarms of deadly drone weapons each launcher acknowledged the command from the A.I matrix and switched over to automated launching mechanisms.

Above each launcher a massive circular hatch irised open exposing the complex mechanisms to the atmosphere of the planet. For a moment more nothing happened as each launcher drew energy from the cities three Zero Point Modules, then with a series of rumbling booms that echoed through the air between the towers, each launcher sent two large projectiles streaking towards space at well over escape velocity.

In seconds the probes were shooting up out of the planets atmosphere, past the shell of Spartan-class defence platforms that had been deployed in orbit, past the warships of Rivendell's escort squadron, and out towards open space. As they travelled the probes own internal propulsion systems came online and the probes decelerated to a stop before aligning themselves onto the appropriate trajectories. For a few moments more nothing happened, then small hyperspace windows opened in front of each of them and the probes vanished inside, shooting away from the system at speeds most races in this universes Milky Way would have considered utterly impossible to achieve, to find the last of the resources that the Tau'ri task force would need to survive in this universe long term.

* * *

No sooner than the roar of the high speed launch of the probes faded than Arwen's avatar straightened her head again.

"Probes deployed, Governor Shepherd," she reported. "Sensors confirm they have jumped to hyperspace. Will there be anything else, Governor Shepherd, Admiral Robyns?"

"No that will be all for now, Arwen," Alison replied. Arwen nodded and vanished as if she had never been present at all. Alison turned to look at Jacob. "We better go to my office and review the Kasaki Plan," she said. "See how much of it applies to us, as when it was conceived we didn't have the technology to build ZPM's and cityships like this one."

"Your right," Jacob answered then gestured to the balcony access door. "Please ladies first."

Alison smiled and led the way off the balcony back towards Stargate Operations, the control room for the city and her office. Jacob followed a few paces behind her, mind silently reeling at the sudden thought that he was going to be the only admiral in their small fleet if they really were stuck here. It was an enormous responsibility.

One he would bear to the best of his ability, until either they found away home or he retired. Whichever came first!

* * *

**Earth Dome**

**Geneva****, Earth**

**A Short Time Later**

Earth Alliance Vice President William Morgan Clark smiled as walked quietly down a corridor in one of the underground levels beneath the massive dome that was the home of EarthGov. Not many people came down to these underground levels any longer, as they were rarely used except in times of great strife – indeed the last time the maze of galleries, chambers and corridors had seen any government activity at all was during the deepest, darkest days of the Earth-Minbari War.

The virtual abandonment of the labyrinth made it an ideal place to hold secret meetings, and for secret groups to meet without anyone in the dome above being aware of them. Naturally since the seat of EarthGov was above them these underground levels were covered by Earth Domes sophisticated security network, but the sensors were older and while still fully functional had yet to be upgraded to modern specifications. An outsider might have found this surprising, however like many governments; the Earth Alliance saw no reason to allocate funding unnecessarily. After the war, especially in light of Earth's pitiful economic position, there were many more infinitely pressing demands on its resources than upgrading a rarely used corner of the Government complex.

Consequently with a little specialist assistance, it had proved relatively easy for Clark and his associates to get the sensors to show what they wanted them to show, rather than what actually went on down here. _Soon,_ Clark thought as he rounded a corner, _soon we won't have to hide down here anymore, as Santiago **will be dead** and **I** will be **president**. _

If it were at all possible, his smile widened slightly at that thought, he had wanted the power and prestige of being president of Earth for so long and it had been denied him but very soon now it would be his. And when it was he would set about rebuilding the power and prestige of the Earth Alliance – something that they had lost to the boneheads a decade ago and had never truly regained, at least not in his view and in the view of those who backed him. Before the Minbari War they hadn't had to consider or bow down to the opinions of any other race the way they did now. They had been in charge of their own destiny, something that he believed they weren't anymore. And as far as he and his supporters were concerned that was unacceptable.

Arriving outside his destination Clark schooled his features into an impassive, professional poker face before operating the door controls. With a whirr of heavy hydraulics the one inch thick armoured door slid aside allowing him access to the room beyond. Resolutely he stepped through the doorway.

And into a largely dark room, where there were only two sources of illumination. The first came from a set of lights recessed into the floor, which outlined a path. A path which led to a circular conference table, illuminated from above by a brilliant white spotlight, the only other source of light in the large room. At the table sat all of his contacts, all those who had worked with him for so long to get The Plan this close to execution. Sat amongst them was the supposedly dead xenolinguist from the ill-fated EAS _Icarus_, Mr Morden. He was a relatively late addition to their circle, but one that had made all the difference. Without the expert advice of Morden and his mysterious, unseen associates The Plan would have been nowhere near as advanced as it was now.

"Greetings gentlemen and ladies," Clark said coming up to the table and nodding at everyone in turn – including the black uniformed female Psi Cop who represented Bureau 13. He personally didn't like the woman very much but she and Bureau 13 had their uses, uses that made them an essential but not entirely indispensible part of The Plan.

"I apologise for being late," he continued as he slipped into his seat. "But I was delayed by an important matter of state."

"That's quite alright," Morden answered having become the group's spokesman for the most part. Which was ideal for him as it allowed him to really guide Clark and his cohorts down the path his associates had chosen for them, a path that would give Clark what he wanted and in so doing get the Shadows what they wanted. _And the irony is these fools go on about alien influences contaminating Earth but have no idea that they are little more than pawns in a much bigger game,_ he thought.

"We were just discussing some of the events that have taken place since our last meeting," Morden continued. "Like the encounter the _Cortez_ had with the Tau'ri warship in System NL-24."

"I see," Clark replied. "Well before we get down to the other items on our agenda here today I have some news to tell you all about the Tau'ri. This has not been released to the general public yet, though its likely to be soon as it wont take those bloodhounds at ISN long to find out what is going on at Babylon Five."

Morden frowned slightly as Clark spoke. His associates had been confused by the encounter between the _Cortez_ and the _Jutland_in NL-24; they had thoroughly checked their records but found no reference to that Tau'ri at all. They were someone new, someone that had not been encountered by the Shadows in millions of years.

"The Tau'ri have gone to Babylon Five haven't they," Morden said guessing what Clark had to tell them.

"They have," Clark confirmed. "But that's not all; when they directly contacted that fool Sinclair a secret was revealed."

"And what is that," Morden asked.

"That the Tau'ri are Human." Gasps raced around the table as Clarks words registered, everyone exchanging looks of shock, surprise and confusion. "The Tau'ri however claim that they are not from Earth or any one of our colonies, instead they claim to be descended from another race and that they have something to do with the legend of Atlantis."

"Atlantis," Morden repeated after a moment of silence even as he suddenly felt unease from the two out of phase Shadows that were always with him when he was away from Za'ha'dum. Subtle modifications made to his body by the Shadows when he agreed to serve them gave him and the others who'd agreed to serve the ability to sense the presence of their masters and their moods. "What could they have to do with an eight thousand year old legend of place that never really existed?"

"Another question is, what race do they claim to be descended from?" Mr Wells asked from where he had been sitting quietly. Clark's security consultant was an essential part of their group, though he rarely spoke at these meetings.

"Those are interesting questions to be sure," Clark replied. "The first question I have no real answer to, all I know is that the Tau'ri commander who hailed Babylon Five told Commander Sinclair that Atlantis is not as lost as the legend indicates. As for the second question they claim that they are the descendants of a race called the Alterans."

Silence answered Clark's words, everyone lost in thought. None of them had ever heard of a species by that name, Morden for his part sensed sudden shock, surprise, respect and fear from the two Shadow creatures. It was immediately clear to him that his associates knew who the Alterans were knew and both respected and feared them. He had never sensed anything like this from the Shadows before, not even when Kosh Narenek confronted them on Babylon Five during the Raider attack a few weeks previously.

"Could they be lying," the Psi Cop asked. "Using an ancient legend and made up names to confuse us. Maybe they are from some long lost colony – possibly people who were taken from Earth long ago by the Vree."

"That is my personal opinion but we cannot make an informed judgement about them at this time, not until we know more," Clark said.

"I will ask my associates if they know anything about these Tau'ri and Alterans," Morden promised as that was what was expected of him.

"Thank you, Mr Morden," Clark replied, he wasn't comfortable relying on information from Morden's mysterious associates, they were aliens after all, but he knew better than to ignore it. Especially as Morden had already told him that his associates saw great potential in the Human race, potential that they were determined to help him realise.

"Should we continue with The Plan," Wells asked. "Or should we wait till we have more information on these Tau'ri?"

"I don't believe we have any choice but to continue," the Psi Cop replied. "Too much has already been set in motion, especially the jamming devices being slowly put in place through the stellar comm network. If we delay The Plan we run an unacceptably high risk of being discovered, hunted down and arrested."

One by one everyone around the table nodded there agreement. They couldn't afford to bring The Plan to a halt now; this was a game where the stakes were just too high to stop. If they were found out then they would likely be tried for treason and attempted murder, the latter carried the punishment of death of personality but the former, that was one of the few crimes for which you could still be executed.

"Then we're agreed we will continue with The Plan," Clark said. "Lets us review our progress, we will begin with the latest reports on the deployment of the jamming devices."

As he spoke he nodded to the supposedly dead Psi Cop who led Bureau 13, the ones entrusted to deploy the jamming devices. She nodded back and picked up a small electronic pad and began filling everyone in on the status of the deployment.

* * *

**Sometime Later**

Morden watched as everyone filed out of the meeting room after a discussion that had gone on for the better part of an hour. Finally he was alone with his associates in the room, they would leave shortly but not until the others were long gone. The last thing the Shadows needed was for Clark and his people to figure out that they were just one small part of a much larger, much more intricately constructed web of plans and schemes. Plans whose ultimate purpose was to serve evolution.

Silently the two Shadow creatures appeared beside him and Morden noticed that both still appeared to be somewhat agitated. "You know who the Alterans are don't you," he said.

_"Yes,"_ one of the Shadows confirmed. _"They are First Ones, they disappeared long ago. If the Tau'ri are indeed their descendants then we must be cautious."_

_"They will be powerful, they could threaten our purpose,"_ the other Shadow said knowing that if the Tau'ri were anything like the Alterans then they would not approve at all of the manipulations of the younger races.

"Surely they cannot be that powerful," Morden answered. "And if the Alterans are First Ones then how can the Tau'ri be Human? And what is the connection to the myth of Atlantis?"

_"You have many questions, Morden. That is why we like you,"_ the first Shadow said. _"In time you will get your answers. But for now we must prepare for a journey, returning to Za'ha'dum will have to wait."_

"I see. May I ask where we are going," Morden answered though he already had the suspicion that he knew.

_"You may, we are going back to Babylon Five."_

"May I ask why?"

_"All in good, Morden,"_ the second Shadow creature answered as both faded back into the darkness. _ "All in good time."_


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Avalon **

**Earth, Tau'ri Federation **

**A Short Time Later**

President Aaron Harker sighed softly to himself as he stood alone on his office balcony looking out across the skyline of his races capital city. The view out across the sprawling metropolis of Avalon never ceased to amaze him even though he had lived here for over twenty years, politics both historical and present had ensured that Avalon was one of the greatest cities in this local galactic cluster and a testament to the power and engineering skills of the Tau'ri and by extension their long ascended Alteran predecessors. Unlike previous cities built by the Tau'ri Avalon was not located on solid ground – none of the old nation states had been able to agree on where to site it when the Federation was founded, so a novel solution was found.

Avalon floated on the ocean.

To be exact Avalon was built on a series of man made islands in the middle of the central Atlantic Ocean just north of the equator. Each island was a disk several kilometres in diameter of bioengineered polyp foamed for buoyancy and linked to each other by a complex network of bridges and walkways. Arranged in a circle around a larger central island itself made of bioengineered polyp the network of islands alone was an impressive feat of bioengineering. But it was the city built on them that really crowned Avalon's glory, standing on each island was a vertical forest of gleaming towers of metal and crystal set in beautifully landscaped parks and gardens. There was no city like it anywhere else in the known universe, a fact that was a source of great pride to Tau'ri everywhere.

Aaron allowed a smile to slip through his experienced politicians mask as he looked out across the metropolis and at the small craft buzzing between the buildings and islands. Everything seemed normal here yet he couldn't shake off a feeling of dread, a feeling that something was coming or had begun that could potentially endanger all of this. _What is this feeling,_ he thought, _where is it coming from and what does it mean?_

Whatever it was he wished it would go away as it was distracting as hell. He hadn't even been able to meditate properly this morning something that was annoying as he found meditation relaxing and rejuvenating. Indeed meditation was a practice that was quiet common among the Tau'ri these days, especially with the demise of all the old religions – save for a few die-hard hold outs – and the revelation that death was not the end of being, that it was possible to ascend to one of the many higher planes of existence upon physical death if you were spiritually pure enough.

"Mr President," a familiar male voice said abruptly from behind him.

Aaron jumped and spun around. "Damn it, Arthur," he said glaring at the holographic avatar that had abruptly appeared behind him. "What are you trying to do give me a heart attack?"

"My apologies for startling you, Mr President," the A.I responded inclining his head slightly, producing a faint metallic sound from the facsimile of medieval body armour that he wore as the avatar was modelled from Arthurian mythology.

"Its quite alright I know you wouldn't bother me unless it was important," Aaron replied. "What is it?"

"First Admiral Brackett and Ambassador Odin have requested to see you on a matter of gravest urgency, I believe it has something to do with Rivendell and the combined fleet dispatched to investigate what happened to them," Arthur informed him. "They have both requested permission to transport straight into your office."

Aaron frowned in concern as a wave of what felt like cryogenic nitrogen suddenly went down his spine. Requesting to beam straight into his office was a highly, highly unusual thing and required that they briefly deactivate a portion the transporter beam jamming field that protected all government areas of the city. The fact that they wanted to beam in was a cause for great concern, as it pointed to the fact that something very serious was going on.

"Very well," he said. "Deactivate the security field around this part of the tower then give the go-ahead from them to transport straight into my office. As soon as transport is complete activate the security field again."

"Yes, Mr President," Arthur replied and inclined his head again before straightening it again. "Security field deactivated, First Admiral Brackett and Ambassador Odin are transporting in now."

As Avalon's artificial intelligence spoke there came the familiar flash of silver-white light and faintly musical tone of a transporter beam from inside the office that had been Aaron's for four years now. Aaron sighed as the light of the transport faded and nodded a dismissal to Arthur who nodded back before vanishing as if he'd never been, and then he walked into the office.

"Admiral, ambassador," he said nodding to First Admiral Brackett and Ambassador Odin sitting on the opposite side of his desk, Brackett in one of the normal chairs put their for the comfort of visitors, Odin in the standard throne-like Asgard chair.

"Mr President," Brackett replied formally. "Forgive us for disturbing you but I am sure you will agree that it was warranted."

"We will have to see about that," Aaron answered. "Now then admiral, ambassador what is this about?"

"There has been an unfortunate incident with the fourth fleet, Mr President. A number of our ships along with a number of Asgard and Jaffa ships have been destroyed."

"Destroyed," Aaron repeated.

"Yes Mr President," Brackett confirmed. "They were holding position outside the dark matter galaxy Rivendell was sent to when they were attacked twice in a period of a few hours. The first attack was unconventional to say the least but it was the second attack that has proven to be the most devastating."

"I think you better start at the beginning admiral," Aaron said firmly. "Start at the beginning and leave absolutely nothing out."

"Yes sir," Brackett replied before beginning to outline exactly what had happened to the fourth fleet out in the great void between galaxies.

He started by explaining that Admiral Hawkins had decided to be cautious and come out of hyperspace just outside the dark matter galaxy rather than immediately proceed into it. How within minutes they had been approached by an unknown alien warship whose hyperspace vector indicated it came from the dark matter galaxy, a warship that had tried to conceal its presence but whose ECM systems were no match for the sensors on the Tau'ri and Asgard ships.

"As per standard procedure Admiral Hawkins attempted to make contact with the alien ship," Brackett continued. "That was when the aliens attacked them with some sort of subspace enhanced telepathic weapon that caused a neural shock. It was devastatingly effective to both ourselves and the Jaffa, causing ships to swing out of control during this confusion a number of ships collided and were either destroyed or severely damaged, amongst them the Asgard flagship _General O'Neill_ which sustained serious shield and hull damage when the cruiser _San Andreas_ collided with them.

"Thankfully Supreme Commander Thor destroyed the attacking alien ship before any further damage could be done and over the next few hours the crews and ships recovered from the attack and were able to modify ECM emitters to jam the subspace carrier frequency the aliens were using for their weapon. It was shortly after this time that they were attacked by the aliens again but with much more force and in a much more conventional way."

"Why? Why would these aliens whoever they are attack us in this fashion," Aaron asked.

"That is unknown, President Harker," Ambassador Odin answered. "However it is believed by the Asgard High Council that these unknown aliens are the dark malevolence that Daniel Jackson warned Thor about. As you will soon see the aliens have cost us dearly, the Asgard High Council is already meeting to decide how we will respond to the alien's acts of aggression and I assure you it will be swift and decisive."

Aaron inwardly shivered at Odin's words. He knew what that meant, the Asgard were angry and were almost certain to declare war on whoever the unknown aliens were. If that happened then honour, politics and public opinion would demand that the Tau'ri Federation honour their alliance and join the war on the Asgards side. A glance at Admiral Brackett's face showed that he knew it too, and knew more than he was telling.

"We have records of the second attack, Mr President," Brackett stated. "Its not good viewing but it has relevance on how we respond to this outrage."

"I see, show them to me, admiral."

"Yes sir may I," Brackett said lifting his hand. Aaron nodded, Brackett smiled and put his hand down on one of the desks interface panels and using the neural interface gave a mental command to the defence mainframe computer through the cities secure data network.

Immediately the sheet crystal window and door out onto the balcony turned opaque cutting out the bright midday sunshine, and a holographic image coalesced into being over their heads. Aaron looked up and watched as in the holographic field a monstrous space battle erupted between the 4th Fleet, the Jaffa, the Asgard and the forces of the unknown but highly aggressive aliens. He winced slightly when he saw the first few Tau'ri ships being destroyed hammered apart by extremely powerful plasma weapons and when he saw a remaining alien cruiser destroy the _Sheppard's Fury_ with a kamikaze ram.

If anything the battle grew more savage from their own, degenerating into a hard to follow ballet of crisscrossing energy beams, ion bolts, plasma blasts, drones and fighters. Despite this he saw a great many of his own peoples along with Jaffa and even Asgard ships be destroyed by the aliens – aliens who drove straight through the massive storm of firepower being directed at them uncaring of their own extreme losses. If at all possible the battle seemed to ratchet up another notch of ferocity when the dying _General O'Neill_ made her devastating suicide run on a group of alien warships.

Eventually the battle wound down with the allied forces their cohesion and lines broken up pulling back, deploying mines behind them to protect their escape from the tattered near broken alien formations that continued to pursue them only to run straight into the mines and be almost completely annihilated. The blasts protecting the retreating ships long enough for them to escape into hyperspace.

Aaron was silent as the holographic field dispersed and the balcony windows and door returned to their previous transparency. To say he was both disturbed and angry by what he had just witnessed would be an understatement. He knew what was going to happen when this was shown to the Senate there would be uproar and demands for retribution. For the first time in centuries the dark clouds of war were gathering on the horizon and he saw no way to prevent the storm.

"What is the status of the fleet admiral," he asked at last.

"They are returning to Starbase 232, Mr President for repairs and a full assessment of casualties but from the battle we've just seen those casualties will be high," Brackett answered.

"Given what has happened in this battle it is very likely that my people will declare war on the unknown aliens, President Harker," Odin said. "The aliens have taken a large number of Asgard lives, though most escaped the destroyed ships before they exploded. The Asgard High Council and the Asgard Fleet will want to explain to these aliens the depth of the error that they have made in attacking us without warning or provocation."

"In addition to the losses to the 4th Fleet, Mr President I think we can safely assume that these aliens have destroyed Rivendell and her escort squadron," Brackett added. "That's not going to go down well with the Senate."

"None of this will, admiral. What is your opinion on this admiral? How do we respond to this alien aggression?"

"To be honest, Mr President we don't really have a choice," Brackett answered. "Since these aliens refuse any attempts at communication then we cannot hope to reason with them diplomatically. They only seem to understand force and they have proven that they are a grave threat to our ships and if they do have intergalactic hyperspace technology – though our analysts are unsure on this point – then they could well be a threat to the safety of the Federation as a whole."

"Then you are advocating that we declare war on these aliens admiral," Aaron asked.

"I am as we don't really have a choice, Mr President. The Jaffa also have a copy of this battle record, it was transmitted to them from their mothership _Bra'tac's Wisdom_. I think we know what the response of the Jaffa High Council will be."

"Indeed," Aaron replied then sighed. "Very well I will summon the Senate into an emergency session to decide on this matter, as you both know well I cannot approve anything like a declaration of war alone."

"That is as it should be, President Harker," Odin answered. "No one individual no matter how wise or gifted should have the authority to make decisions of such galactic importance alone."

"I am glad that you understand, ambassador."

Odin gave a subtle Asgard nod of acknowledgement before speaking. "Now if you will both excuse me I must return to the Asgard embassy," he said. "The High Council is awaiting my input on the matter before us."

"Of course, ambassador," Aaron answered. "Admiral Brackett return to fleet headquarters and prepare a full run down on the status and deployment of all our military forces, and prepare the battle recording for the Senate to view. We will meet in three hours."

"Yes sir," Brackett acknowledged.

Aaron nodded. "Arthur," he called out.

Instantly the holographic avatar of Avalon's A.I appeared in the room. "Yes Mr President," Arthur asked.

"Deactivate the security field to allow transport," Aaron instructed.

"As you wish, security field deactivated."

Aaron nodded at both Odin and Admiral Brackett indicating that it was alright for them to leave now, the Asgard and the military officer nodded back before pressing small remote devices, in the case of Odin on the arm of his chair and in Brackett's case he stood up before pressing a crystal on what looked like a jewelled bracelet he wore on his right wrist. Instantly the two were enveloped in different transporter beams and vanished from the office in a flash of light and a soft musical chime.

"Shall I reactivate the security field, Mr President," Arthur asked.

"Yes, Arthur. Then please send a message to the Senate Speaker that I wish for an emergency session of the Senate to be called in three hours. And have the cabinet assemble in chambers immediately."

"As you wish," Arthur replied inclining his head and going quiet for a moment though it wasn't strictly necessary. Like all A.I's Arthur was capable of performing millions of different tasks and carrying on thousands of conversations simultaneously without even starting to stretch his processing power. It was just like all A.I's Arthur was programmed to act in as Human a way as possible to make interacting with him easier.

For a few moments Arthur remained silent and immobile in front of Aaron, and then he straightened his head. "The messages have been delivered, Mr President," he said. "The speaker is summoning the senate to an emergency session in three hours and the members of the cabinet are on their way to chambers as we speak."

"Excellent."

"Do you require anything else, Mr President?"

"Not right now, Arthur thank you."

Arthur nodded before vanishing with all the fuss of a bursting soap bubble. Aaron sighed and stood up from his desk. _So much for a quiet day, at least I know now what's been bothering me for the last few hours,_ he thought before heading out of his office to the nearest internal transport both to descend to the cabinet chambers several floors below. The knowledge of what had been bothering him now being known did not make him feel any better, if anything it made him feel worse. For he was embarking on a path that was going to lead the Tau'ri Federation to the unpleasantness of interstellar war, he would have preferred to avoid it but with both the Asgard and the Jaffa High Councils in uproar over the actions of the aliens he had no choice.

No choice at all.

* * *

**TFS Jutland**

**Orbiting Epsilon Three, That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie sighed as he finished getting into his dress uniform ready for his trip over to Babylon Five and the meeting with the ambassadors of the various races there. He hated wearing this thing, even though the dress uniform was quite comfortable it was just the excessive formality of the thing and the white cloak that was worn with it that did it for him.

For a moment he studied his reflection in the mirror. The dress uniform of the Tau'ri Defence Forces was a dark blue tunic, trousers and boots all with white piping highlights, on the left hand side of the chest was a silver and black badge that was the symbol of the Tau'ri Federation. In design it was simple, a chevron identical to those on the Stargates with the Stargate symbol for Earth laid over the top and with a small representation of the galaxy in the middle.

Over the top of the tunic was a white cloak with blue piping edges, the cloak held in place by a silver clasp that had a small crystal in the centre and which was worn over the centre line of the chest. Ordinarily the clasp would just be inert decoration but given what had happened with Lieutenant Tayman on Babylon Five he had given the order for a more purposeful clasp to be used. In appearance it was the same but it was really a personal shield device made to look like the normal clasp, though like the normal clasp it used a molecular bonding surface to hold the cloak in place.

After a few seconds of silence Aaron McKenzie sighed and turned away from the mirror, while he did have to agree with what his family kept telling him. His family! He sighed softly again wondering if he would ever see his parents or his siblings and his nephew again – if they were permanently stuck in this universe which was very likely given the contents of the last subspace databurst they'd received from Rivendell – then he probably never would. It was not a nice revelation and almost made him want to cry out at the unfairness of it all. Falling back on training and duty – they were the only things he really had left – he pushed aside the thoughts of those he had left behind and focused on the here and now and the job he had to do.

Glancing over at his quarter's active computer terminal he checked the time, the official first contact meeting was due to take place on Babylon Five in fifteen minutes. _I better head down to the hanger bay,_ he thought, _I just hope everyone else is there as well. The last thing we need is to be late for our own meeting._

Schooling his features into a calm mask he left his quarters and began making his way through the interior corridors of the _Jutland_ to the closest internal transporter station. Like all heavy Tau'ri warships the _Jutland_ was a big ship over a thousand metres long and just over six hundred metres broad with twenty four decks. She was far too big to get around quickly on foot so to solve the problem there was a network of internal transporters – copied directly from the system the Ancients had used on their own vessels – throughout the ship, which definitely made getting from point A to point B in a hurry easier.

Not that Aaron McKenzie was in an undue hurry, indeed he nodded politely to the various crew members that he passed as he made his way through the almost maze-like network of corridors, cross corridors, bulkheads, chambers and open areas that made up the _Jutland's_ interior. Even taking a leisurely pace it only took a minute to reach the transporter station that served this part of the ship.

The moment Aaron stepped into the closet like compartment the destination screen flashed to life giving a list of all the different transport stations that there were on the cruiser. Barely even thinking about it Aaron pressed the button that would take him to the transporter closest to the hanger bay and turned in place as the doors to the booth closed. For a moment the whole world went white then faded away and the doors opened again – revealing a corridor almost identical to the one he'd just left. Feeling a twinge of excitement and nerves for the diplomatic mission he was about to embark upon he stepped out of the booth and began walking in the direction of the hanger bay.

* * *

**A Few Moments Later**

The hanger bay of an Agamemnon-class heavy cruiser like the _Jutland_ was a large rectangular space two hundred metres long, sixty metres broad though it was actually nowhere near the outer hull. Instead the cruisers small armada of small craft entered and exited the ship through a wide circular tube in the centre of the hanger deck floor.

To a visitor to the cruiser the hanger would have been an impressive sight, especially as it was near enough three decks tall. Lined up along the port and starboard walls of the main level in individual maintenance areas were the ships twelve Hornet fighter craft, with two larger Night Hawk landing craft – which looked somewhat like a Puddle Jumper writ large – against the other two walls. Eight gallery-like landing/maintenance areas lined the port and starboard walls of the upper level on four of which sat a Puddle Jumper.

It was onto this upper level that Captain Aaron McKenzie stepped keeping a careful grip on the safety rail that lined the edge of the walkway. It was a habit he'd kept for years though there was little danger of falling from the upper deck to main floor. Safety force fields would prevent it, still he kept the habit as he'd seen what happened when safety fields failed and someone fell off the upper level.

A small crowd was waiting for him at the Puddle Jumper when he arrived. Though he was the only one of the senior staff that was going aboard Babylon Five he was not alone. Doctor Kieran Daniels one of the ships medical staff would be accompanying him, along with a pilot and four security marines. Doctor Daniels and Lieutenant Sterns were dressed in the same formal dress uniform as himself, whereas the marines wore full battle uniform complete with helmets, though in a concession to diplomacy they were armed with elegant looking staff weapons as opposed to their normal disruption pulse rifles.

"Doctor, Lieutenant are you ready," Aaron asked.

"Yes sir," Sterns answered.

"I'm ready sir," Daniels said before looking down for a moment then up again, this time his eyes momentarily glowed from within with a golden light. **"As am I,"** Loresh – the Tok'ra symbiote he'd carried for the last year or so – added.

Aaron resisted the urge to flinch at the distorted voice. He still wasn't used to the fact that Daniels was a host even though he had been there when he blended with Loresh after a particularly nasty skirmish between the _Jutland _and a pair of Aschen cruisers that had been where they shouldn't have been and which had refused to leave when ordered to do so. Daniels had been injured in the battle that had followed – a battle that saw both Aschen ships retreat with heavy damage – and which had also claimed the life of Loresh's previous host who was injured beyond both Loresh and Tau'ri medical technology to heal. The Aschen Confederation afterwards claimed that the whole incident had been a terrible and tragic misunderstanding and that no aggression had been meant but that hadn't made it easier on the _Jutland_ crew who'd lost many friends and comrades that day.

Shaking off the memories of that battle with the Aschen Aaron brought his attention back to the here and now. "Then let's board the jumper and get over there," he said.

"Yes sir," the assembled party answered, though this time Daniels spoke for both himself and Loresh.

Aaron smiled and led the way aboard the Puddle Jumper. He took a seat in the co-pilots position letting Lieutenant Sterns take the pilots seat and bring the jumpers systems to life. Doctor Daniels slid into one of the seats behind him while the security team sat into the aft compartment; as soon as they were all in Sterns remotely closed the hatch before opening up a communications link with the hanger bays control room.

"Jumper one to hanger control," Sterns said, "ready for departure."

"Confirmed jumper one," hanger control answered, "your clear to begin launch sequence in five... four... three... two... one."

"Acknowledge beginning launch sequence," Sterns answered before giving the mental command to the console.

With an audible whirring sound that echoed through the hanger bay the Puddle Jumpers antigrav wave jets came alive and the cylindrical craft lifted off its docking pedestal. Under the careful control of the hanger bay computer the craft rotated so it was side on to the bulkhead before moving sideways till it was right over the closed hatch in the deck below.

Outside the Puddle Jumper warning sirens and lights began flashing, warning the deck crew to keep clear of the hatch a moment before there was the blue shimmer of an activating force field and the circular hatch irised open revealing a long tunnel lined with four strips of light. Slowly the Puddle Jumper began lowering through the tunnel. They passed through another two force fields over open hatches before coming to the bottom of the shaft. A large armoured hatch slowly irised open and below them was the star studded blackness of open space.

The Puddle Jumper dropped through the hatch and suddenly they were falling away from the _Jutland_ as the automated launch and retrieval system released its grip on the craft. They were only falling free for a moment before the drive pods slid out of their recesses in the hull and under the skilful hands of Lieutenant Sterns the small transport curved around and headed towards Babylon Five at a standard cruising speed.

* * *

**Docking Bays**

**Babylon Five, A Few Minutes Later**

Londo Mollari, ambassador from the great Centauri Republic to Babylon Five, adjusted his cloak slightly on his shoulders as he waited for the Tau'ri delegation to arrive. Waiting along with him were Ambassador Delenn, Ambassador G'Kar, Ambassador Kosh – and another Vorlon in an encounter suit that was slightly smaller, sleeker and more rounded in the headpiece than the one Kosh wore its eye was also a different colour being silver instead of green. The final members of the greeting party were of course Commander Jeffery Sinclair and Security Chief Michael Garibaldi – both looking smart in their dress uniforms. Though why the Humans referred to their more formal uniforms as dress uniforms Londo really didn't know. But then Humans were curious creatures indeed.

And now it appeared that a new mystery about them had been unearthed in the Tau'ri. There were a great many things Londo wanted to know about this mysterious but obviously highly advanced race of Humans who claimed to not be from Earth or any of its colonies. If that was true then he especially wanted to know where they came from, what they wanted in this part of space, and if they posed a threat to the Centauri Republic. Which was the last thing the Centauri needed right now, they had enough of a headache with the increased aggression towards them the Narn had shown ever since the Narn 'liberation' of Ragesh Three was thwarted earlier this year.

Faintly he heard Commander Sinclair's link go off. "Sinclair go," he heard Sinclair answer though he didn't hear what he was told. After a moment Sinclair signed off and addressed the assembled ambassadors.

"The Tau'ri shuttle has docked," he said. "They'll be through any moment now."

No sooner than he spoke than the transparent door between their location in the reception area and the customs area opened. After a moment four humanoid figures came through and took position on each side of the entrance. It was impossible to tell if they were Human or not as they wore full suits of some sort of pearly grey armour, complete with full helmets with silver visors. Each carried a two metre long staff of gleaming metal tipped with small pod that looked somewhat like a flower just before it started to open into bloom. Turning to face each other the figures lifted their staffs and joined them together forming two arches.

Then the rest of the Tau'ri party appeared and these were clearly Humans, all three were dressed in dark blue tunics with white highlight piping, a white cloak with blue trimming and held together over the chest with a silver clasp in the centre of which was some sort of green crystal. Only one of the three Tau'ri was immediately recognisable to Commander Sinclair and Ambassador Delenn as the _Jutland's _master, the other two were completely unknown though Sinclair quietly reminded himself that he still didn't even know the name of _Jutland's_ captain.

The group of Tau'ri came to a stop in front of the assembled ambassadors and for a few moments no one moved. Then Sinclair stepped forward and started to open his mouth to speak, only to get a shock when the other Vorlon steeped forward.

"In the name of the Vorlon Empire I welcome you, it has been far too long since our races last met," Kosh Menkusi said speaking in the language of the Alterans and hoping that the Tau'ri would understand. It was clear that they did as she saw looks of surprise flash across their faces though she couldn't telepathically read their emotions instead all she got from them was the telepathic equivalent of radio white noise. But then that had always been the case with the Alterans who seemed to have a natural resistance to telepathy on the mental wavelength that all known species shared.

Startled by the fact that the strange suited alien knew the language of the Ancients Captain McKenzie studied the figure for a moment. The fact that she/he/it knew the language and the aliens words immediately told him that at some point in the past the Alterans had come to this reality presumably sometime before the plague brought their civilisation to its knees and the survivors either ascended or fled with Atlantis to the Pegasus Irregular Galaxy. If that was indeed true then maybe, just maybe, there was a way home after all buried somewhere in the immense and not very user friendly Alteran database of which Rivendell had a copy.

"You have met our kind before," he asked the alien speaking fluent Ancient as it was only a more complicated version of Latin at least with regard to the verbal language, the written version of the language was something else again.

"Yes," the alien confirmed. "You came to this galaxy from nowhere four million years ago and disappeared over a million years ago. Do you not remember?"

"No but then it wasn't us, that would have been our predecessors the Alterans long ago left this plane of existence but not before they created us as their second evolution."

"I see," Kosh Menkusi replied feeling a momentary crushing disappointment that the Tau'ri were not the Alterans that they had known, but rather an inheritor of theres. Something that would be just as advantageous to the Vorlon Empire if they could establish the relations with them that they had had with their predecessors. But what did the Tau'ri in front of her mean by the Alterans long ago leaving this plane of existence? Somehow she knew that the answer would be momentous and of great significance not just for her kind but for all species. It was a prospect that was both exhilarating and terrifying but one that if it was handled right the Vorlons could use to their advantage.

"We will have much to talk about," she said again in Alteran.

"Indeed."

Almost unnoticed by the Vorlons and the Tau'ri party, Commander Jeffery Sinclair and the other assembled ambassadors were staring in astonishment at the scene before them. None of them had ever seen the Vorlons behaving in this way before, being far more forthright than they were used to although they had no idea what the Tau'ri and the Vorlon were saying as they were speaking in a language that they could not understand. Though to Sinclair and Garibaldi's ears it sounded almost like Latin but different at the same time.

After a moment or two the conversation stopped and the Vorlon stepped back to rejoin Kosh the head of its encounter suit lowered slightly in a respectful gesture. It was immediately clear to all that the by nature enigmatic Vorlons knew something about the Tau'ri, something that had them behaving in a way that was completely uncharacteristic of them.

After another moment of awkward silence Sinclair silently shook himself and stepped forward to greet the Tau'ri delegation. "Welcome to Babylon Five," he said. "I'm Commander Jeffery Sinclair."

"Greetings commander," Aaron answered speaking English this time. "I am Captain McKenzie of the _Jutland_, on behalf of the Tau'ri Federation it is a pleasure to be here. Allow me to introduce Doctor Daniels one of my medical staff and this is Lieutenant Sterns one of our pilots."

"A pleasure," Sinclair replied. "Allow me to introduce you to representatives of the Babylon Five Advisory Council. This is Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari Federation."

"Captain," Delenn said making a pyramid shape with her hands and bowing slightly, while at the same time carefully eyeing Captain McKenzie. She hadn't missed the nuances between the Tau'ri and the Vorlons which only made the mystery of the Tau'ri that much more intriguing.

"Ambassador," McKenzie returned.

"This is Ambassador Londo Mollari of the Centauri Republic," Sinclair continued, Londo nodding politely when he was indicated before Sinclair moved on. "This is Ambassador G'Kar of the Narn Regime."

"Captain," G'Kar said holding his fists to the centre of his chest and bowing slightly in the Narn gesture of greeting/salutation. Like Delenn he hadn't missed the strange nuances between the Tau'ri and the Vorlons which were very intriguing. He was especially intrigued by the fact that the Tau'ri were apparently another race of Humans, one far more advanced than the one he had been dealing with for a number of years now, a race that until now Earth had had no knowledge of. He was already trying to figure out just how the Narn Regime could take advantage of it as he had been ordered to do by the rest of the Kha'ri.

"Ambassador," Aaron acknowledged.

"This is Ambassador Kosh of the Vorlon Empire and his companion," Sinclair continued after the interaction passed. "And finally this is my chief of security Michael Garibaldi."

"It is a great pleasure to meet you all," Aaron McKenzie replied. "I believe we all have a great deal to talk about. But it's been over five hundred years since we last encountered any new races, let alone so many all at once, so this is a little strange for us. But its time we all met since we're all neighbours so to speak."

"So if the _Cortez_ hadn't found you, you wouldn't be here," Garibaldi asked bluntly.

"Probably not as this time, Mr Garibaldi but this is just another fork in the road on our journey to the Great Path we can no more choose to ignore you any longer than you could choose to cut off your hand."

Sinclair frowned slightly wondering what Captain McKenzie meant by the Great Path and journeying towards it. After a moments thought he mentally shrugged, deciding it was just another curiosity about these mysterious 'other' Humans. For the first time he was beginning to get the idea that the Tau'ri while they were Human were in their own way aliens, aliens whose ways, beliefs and goals were unknown to Earth Alliance or anyone around here – with the obvious exception of the Vorlons.

"I believe now would be a good time to move on," he said. "The rest of the council is waiting in chambers to greet you."

"Very well," Aaron agreed. "Please lead the way."

"One moment," Garibaldi said. "I'm afraid your guards will have to leave their staffs in your shuttle, no unauthorised weapons are permitted on board this station."

Aaron frowned slightly. "Are you trying to insult us, Mr Garibaldi," he asked.

"I'm sorry," Garibaldi said.

"The staffs have a ceremonial purpose, Mr Garibaldi," Aaron informed him. "They are not just for defence."

"I understand that, but I cannot permit unauthorised weapons on board this station."

"Michael…" Sinclair started to say to try and prevent an incident that he could see brewing on the horizon.

Aaron held up a hand. "It's alright, Commander," he said. "I'll have the staffs returned to the ship but I want Mr Garibaldi to understand something, that he's now responsible for the safety of myself and my people. It will be on him that we take retribution if anything happens."

"Nothing will happen."

"Very well I will accept your word this time, Mr Garibaldi," Aaron said before looking back at the security detail. "Take your staff weapons back to the jumper," he ordered.

"Yes sir," the head of the detail responded and the four men disappeared to return their staffs to the puddle jumper. Even without them they would not be entirely defenceless, they all had their personal force fields, the security details had disruption pulse emitters built into the gauntlets of their armour, and the _Jutland_ would be keeping a constant transport lock on them ready to beam them out at the first sign of trouble.

After a moment the security detail returned without their staffs but unknown to Garibaldi far from defenceless. Aaron turned to Garibaldi again. "Happy now, Mr Garibaldi," he asked calmly.

"Yes thank you," Garibaldi replied a faint look of smugness in his eyes if not on his face. Sinclair gave his old friend a dark look for a moment, aware that Michael being a stickler for the no weapons rule could have well caused a diplomatic incident before first contact was complete.

"Please come this way," Sinclair said looking back at Captain McKenzie.

"Lead on please commander," Aaron answered as he had no idea where the council chambers were, even though _Jutland's_ scanners had already been able to build a comprehensive holographic recreation of Babylon Five for them to examine. Partially for scientific curiosity as Babylon Five was the first practical example of an O'Neill habitat that they had ever encountered and partly so they could track the movements of any personnel on board in real time.

Sinclair smiled and nodded before leading the way out of the reception area into the interior of the stations. The regular Babylon Five ambassadors followed, with Aaron and party following just behind them and with Mr Garibaldi and the _Jutland's_ four security marines bringing up the rear.

As he walked Aaron McKenzie thought about the contact that had just transpired. It hadn't gone to badly – aside from the security officer's stance on weapons, which truth be told he could well understand. They had gotten a surprise in that these Vorlons seemed to have met the Ancients in the past, which was a most unexpected development, though one with enormous potential. _Hopefully the rest of first contact will go as well as this meeting has so far,_ he thought. _With a little bit of luck the revelation that the Vorlons and the Ancients met will lead to away home._

He supposed that only time would tell.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

**Elsewhere**

**A Few Minutes Later**

The class nine interstellar survey probe – one of the series launched a short time earlier from Rivendell – slipped gracefully out of a hyperspace window back into normal space. For a few moments it coasted forward on the inertia imparted by its emergence from hyperspace then its small but powerful gravitic ion engine came online and slowed the complex device down to a normal sublight cruising speed. Silently, invisibly powerful subspace scanning beams reached out from the probe and carried out a standard navigational sweep of the system to confirm that the probe was not in danger of colliding with anything.

The system in which the probe found itself was on the initial cursory scan unremarkable. Five planets orbited around the G-type star similar to the one that Earth orbited but a hundred million years or so older. Two of the planets were terrestrial planets the innermost of the two was like Mercury in to close an orbit to the star to even have an atmosphere – what little atmosphere it might have once possessed having been long along stripped away by the solar winds leaving its surface baked and radiation blasted. The second world in the system was wrapped in a toxic atmosphere of methane, argon, ammonia and nitrogen and was consequently a frozen ball of rock and ice. The other three planets in the system were gas giants surrounded by hundreds of satellites ranging from small asteroids to full sized moons. Between the gas giants and the rocky, icy planets of the inner system stretched a wider than average asteroid belt that teased the probes sensors with unusual radiation readings.

The probe paid it no mind as it went about its search for usable minerals. Entering orbit of the outermost gas giant – a ringed world around the same size as Saturn – the probes scanners immediately began to pick up traces of various metals including iron, platinum and nickel but so far no trace of the needed neutronium. The probe noted the characteristics of the gas giant and its many moons and moonlets before moving on to the next world.

Positive readings began to tease the probes sensors as it drew closer to the forth planet which was the largest of the gas giants. The scanners were detecting a sizeable neutronium signature coming from one of the moons. Immediately the small drone craft moved into orbit of the moon and began to evaluate it. The moon occupied an unusually close orbit with the gas giant and had an atmosphere composed primarily of carbon dioxide with traces of methane, fluorine, argon and nitrogen. Beneath its toxic atmosphere the probe picked up massive lakes and oceans of liquid hydrocarbons along with a surface swept by strong winds caused by the moons unusually fast rotation.

Not at all put off by the inhospitable nature of the moon the probe began scanning the planet in more detail, powerful scanners peeling away layers of the planets surface like the skin of an onion exposing the treasure that was below. The planets crust was heavily impregnated with large veins of neutronium with some naquada and another unknown mineral present in mineable quantities.

Had it been alive the probe would have been elated at the discovery of neutronium in high enough quantities to warrant mining, but it wasn't alive. Instead with the dispassion so characteristic of machines the probe sent a subspace databurst to Rivendell informing its masters of its success, before proceeding with a more in depth survey of the planet.

* * *

**Babylon Five**

**That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie resisted the impulse to look around in curiosity as he followed Commander Sinclair and the rest of the greeting party to Babylon Five's council chamber. He had to admit that he was very curious about this space station; it was an impressive feat of engineering. Though the technology employed was primitive – at least compared to what Aaron was used to seeing – the station was very impressive, even though it was not as big as some of the space stations they themselves could build. _But then the Humans of this reality haven't had our advantages,_ Aaron reminded himself before thinking a bit more about Babylon Five and what made it so impressive.

From the earlier probe observations they had calculated that the station massed two hundred million tonnes, with two thirds of its five mile length rotating, and rotating fast enough to provide an internal gravity of one gee. The forces that rotation had to exert on the structure had to be enormous – the fact that it didn't tear itself apart was a testament to the engineering skills of its designers and builders. Aaron would dearly love to meet some of them so he could ask them just how they had accomplished such a Herculean task. The very fact that they had pointed to hidden depths to Earth Alliance materials science, marking it as surprisingly advanced despite the much more primitive nature of their technology.

"I have to say, Commander Sinclair that this space station of yours is an impressive feat of engineering," he said aloud.

"Thank you," Sinclair replied mildly surprised that the Tau'ri officer was complementing them on the construction of Babylon Five. He would have thought that an O'Neill type space station would be considered old technology by them. The same way he thought of chemical rockets and nuclear fission reactors. "Though I'm sure this seems old technology to you."

"There is an element of truth to that statement, we long ago discarded the idea of a rotational space station, the development of artificial gravity and inertial dampening made it irrelevant," Aaron admitted. "But that doesn't detract from the reality that this station is an impressive feat of engineering. I imagine the rotational stresses on the hull have to be kept within a very narrow margin to prevent the stations own mass tearing it apart."

"Your ships are equipped with artificial gravity, captain?" Delenn asked.

"Of course they are ambassador," Aaron replied. "Every spacecraft we have from our smallest to our greatest cityships are equipped with artificial gravity."

"Cityship," Londo asked, "what's that?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, ambassador," Doctor Daniels replied. "A cityship is just that, a city that can fly and travel between the stars with the same ease as you or I walk down this corridor."

"That's impossible," Londo replied.

"Believe what you will, ambassador. But cityships do indeed exist, both ourselves and our Alteran predecessors have used them on and off for millions of years."

Delenn frowned slightly as the Tau'ri called Daniels spoke. Was he saying that the Tau'ri had been around for millions of years? Or was he giving a blanket statement to include the mysterious Alterans that they claimed to be descendants of as well? If it was the former then it would imply that the Tau'ri were First Ones, even if it were the latter it would qualify them as a middle born race like the Yolu. Either would go a long way towards explaining their level of technology. Though it raised interesting questions about the Humans as well by association, such as were they really a younger race at all?

She didn't have chance to consider the questions it raised further. For at that moment they rounded the final corner into the corridor that led to the chamber that housed the Babylon Five Advisory Council. Standing at attention against each wall of the corridor were two Babylon Five security troops in their intimidating black body armour and carrying heavy PPG carbines. When they entered the council chambers Delenn knew that the two guards would block the corridor to prevent anyone gaining access as for the formal first contact the council would be meeting in closed session.

Without speaking they entered the council chamber, conversation between the assembled ambassadors stopping dead as they entered. Captain McKenzie looked curiously around the council chamber taking in the details. It was surprisingly small he would have expected the chamber of something that was like an interstellar version of the old United Nations to be bigger than this. On one side of the room was a large hemispherical table behind which stood four chairs and an open space where there would have been a fifth chair. Without speaking most of the greeting party took their places, sitting in the chairs behind the table, though the two Vorlons stood in the open gap – obviously their species didn't have any use for things like chairs.

Facing the table against the opposite wall was a set of stands that reminded Aaron somewhat of a lecture hall. Sitting in the seats on those stands was a virtual menagerie of different alien creatures – each had a name plate directly in front of them identifying which species they were. Aaron resisted the impulse to stare as he studied the aliens – even as they studied him back – thanks in no small part to the Goa'uld there were so few alien species in the Milky Way in their own universe. Races like the Serrakin, Unas and Spirits were the exception and not the rule as most species in their galaxy had been exterminated or – if they were lucky – blasted back into the Stone Age by the forces of the System Lords.

The sudden banging of a gavel made him inwardly jump and he glanced over at the larger table to see that Commander Sinclair had stood up from the centre seat and banged a gavel that he hadn't seen.

"This session of the Babylon Five Advisory Council and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds is now in session," Sinclair announced before sitting back down. "The council currently recognises Captain McKenzie of the Tau'ri vessel _Jutland._"

Aaron took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking. "Thank you commander," he said before moving to the centre of the room, fully aware of the fact that everyone's eyes were tracking him.

"On behalf of the Tau'ri Federation I bring you all greetings," he said. "I know that you all have many questions about us and our intentions, I am here to provide you with some answers that you might be seeking. Also I have been asked to inform you that we have no hostile intentions towards any of you – we are all sentient beings after all and we are all neighbours so to speak. Therefore peaceful relations are more desirable than military conflict."

"Those are fine words, Captain," G'Kar said. "Though given what you told us in the docking bay I find it hard to believe."

"I have to agree," Londo added leaning forward slightly stunned to find himself agreeing with G'Kar of all people. "Your people were planning to ignore us."

A murmur ran through the assembled ambassadors at that revelation. None of the local races liked being ignored. A few glared slightly at Captain McKenzie.

"Ambassadors Mollari and G'Kar are correct but only to a point," Aaron admitted. "We were hoping to avoid contact with any of your races for a period of time – we have only recently come to this galaxy and would have preferred to wait for a time before making contact with any of you."

"How much time," Nedron – the Brakiri ambassador asked. "And what do you mean you have just come to this galaxy? You are Human are you not? Are we to believe that you have no interest in Earth Alliance?"

"You are, we have no real interest in the affairs of the Earth Alliance," Aaron answered. "We would have been perfectly happy to ignore Earth for a few centuries at the very least."

"But you are Human," the Brakiri shot back.

"Yes we are but it means nothing and we have been separated from Earth for so long that I doubt we are the same race anymore," Aaron answered. "Our ancestors left Earth a million of its years ago, indeed until now Earth had no knowledge of our existence."

"I heartily doubt that 'Captain." The Brakiri sneered, "The Humans of this galaxy have only been around a few hundred years; we know they evolved here through their own scientific studies. You now expect is to believe that you have miraculously come to this galaxy far, far, away."

A few of the ambassadors snorted at the joke, Human entertainment had been a staple of several of the League cultures for centuries. As television and film signals reached them time and again the races of the League had become quite versed in their understanding of Human mores and personalities. It had been interesting to see how alike the Humans were in emotion to so many of them.

"Yes ambassador I do, we have proof of our own to show that we are the descendents and the rightful heirs to their legacy. The Humans of this area of space have little to nothing to do with us. We approached Babylon Five and all of the races equally, the first contact with the EAS _Cortez_ and her crew forced our hand earlier than we would have liked, but make no bones ladies and gentlemen we could have clammed up and stayed exactly where we were and stopped any attempt at finding out who we were."

"You are saying you could stop any attack then Captain."

"I don't know." Mackenzie said, "I just know that if anyone had found us we would have been gone within a few hours of discovery, no ship in this sector could have followed us or found us had we not wanted them to. We are a peaceful people, explorers much like a number of your own people and we have come here by accident, we can't return home just yet but we are willing to extend a hand to each race as they meet with us."

"So a Human race of quite impressive power appears all of a sudden within a few days us finding a powerful weapon and you say your not here for it and you don't care about claiming a share of space," the Vree ambassador asked

"Ambassador?" Mackenzie eyes the Asgard looking race, "We are part of an empire that stretches across four galaxies and includes a thousand races including Human, non Human and even non humanoids. Lizard based, crystalline, silicon, artificial intelligences, avian, every race in our home area still controls their own homes we have no need to conquer anyone. The Earth Alliance with all respect is small fry compared to most of the Human based groups that make up our Federation; all that they could possibly have had of us at all was a single legend."

"Atlantis, you're behind the legend," Sinclair said.

"Our Alteran ancestors are yes, Commander. But as I said to you earlier Atlantis is not as lost as you believe – Atlantis and its people left Earth millions of years ago and decided not to return it to Earth. To do so would have detracted from your own journey to the Great Path, you would be robbed of the chance to find your own way."

"Atlantis is real," Londo asked having been Centauri liaison to Earth for many years before being personally assigned to Babylon Five by Emperor Turhan he was familiar with the legend of the Lost City of Atlantis. Like many of his people he found Earther mythology and culture interesting.

"Yes," Kosh Narenek said in his musical voice startling almost everyone. With the exception of Captain McKenzie and his entourage who recalling the earlier conversation with the Vorlons were half expecting it.

"Captain McKenzie you mentioned that Atlantis is not on Earth any longer," Ambassador Delenn said. "Where is it and how did it leave Earth?"

"Wait, wait." The Drazi ambassador asked, "What is Atlantis?"

"Atlantis was an Earther legend." Londo said, "Huge and splendid city, more powerful and more advanced than any the Humans could have created, legends of magic and sorcery were behind its infamy. One day it simply disappeared beneath the waves never to be seen again, it is one of the most incredible and ancient myths the Humans have."

"Atlantis is more than a city, Ambassador, it is true that Atlantis did disappear beneath the waves but it was programmed to. Atlantis was designed as a floating city capable of holding tens of thousands of Humans and aliens much like Babylon Five theory. However it was also built to move. Atlantis was one of twelve ships built to travel between galaxies," Aaron answered, "As for where it now is, the city once it left Earth proceeded to a planet we call Lantea approximately four million light years away in the Pegasus Irregular Galaxy. But I would ask that we not speak of Atlantis further, it is not relevant to our presence in this galaxy."

A murmuring ran through the assembled ambassadors and League representatives as they digested what they had just been told and what it implied. While the technology to build spacecraft that could qualify as flying cities was nothing new – Earth regularly did it with their Explorer ships – but the fact that an actual _city_ could be a spaceship was something else, especially a spacecraft that could go between galaxies. It implied that the Tau'ri had some frighteningly advanced technology to be able to do that. Something that was cause for concern for any number of reasons, especially if they decided to share it with someone, that would seriously upset the balance of power.

After a few moments as the hubbub amongst the ambassadors increased Commander Sinclair banged the gavel again, getting everyone's attention. "Thank you, Captain," he said. "Does anyone wish to speak?"

After a moment Nedron stood up. "I believe I must, Commander," he said. "Captain McKenzie much as I would like to believe your words I cannot. A race capable of sending Cities between galaxies, armed with weapons powered by reactors even above the ability of the Minbari to produce. You appear knowing that no race here can defend against you, any sane person would be concerned that you would be willing to take what you wanted even if we couldn't stop you."

"We won't attack Ambassador for a simple reason; there is nothing you have that we want."

The council began to grumble, their words getting louder as they took offence at the very thought that these Tau'ri would think that they are so powerful and capable that they would turn their noses up at the gifts that the races of the Orion Sector could offer them.

"If your people did not mean aggression then why are you – the captain of a warship – here? Would not a civilian ambassador be better?"

"It would have been yes," Aaron replied. "But there were none available, as I've indicated we did not anticipate contacting any of you at this time. Unfortunately the encounter with the Earth ship _Cortez_ made it inevitable, there has been a fork in our road to the Great Path – we cannot now ignore you like we were originally going to do.

"But I can assure you ambassador that we have no hostile intentions. Had we been aggressive we would have destroyed the _Cortez_," Aaron continued. "My own ship has been in the area for several weeks now, if we had wanted anything we would have taken it and destroyed anything that decided to stop us from trying. We have no intention of interfering with anyone's internal affairs, to do so would disrupt your own paths and that is something we will not do – not unless we are provoked."

"So you'll simply stand by and watch from the side and wait?"

"We wish to be left alone that's all, our people have been through a number of conflicts in recent years and we are tired of these conflicts. It is simple for us to turn away and leave the races of this sector alone... but we won't we will continue to meet and discuss with the Earth Alliance, Minbari Federation and any others that wish to."

"You have mentioned the Great Path a few times now," Delenn pointed out. "Would you please explain to us what you mean by that?" As Delenn spoke everyone looked over at Aaron McKenzie waiting to see how he would respond. Both Vorlons present included – as they too wanted to know what the Tau'ri meant by the Great Path.

"It is difficult to explain, ambassador," Aaron answered. "A basic answer is the Great Path is what follows ascension, the transcending of our plane of existence to one of the higher planes where you can exist as a being of pure energy and thought. The Great Path is what follows – it is your own unique journey through the universe – your destiny if you will. Every race, every individual has their own journey to and down the Great Path – no one can chose that for you."

"Interesting," Delenn said. "Have you ever seen this ascension?"

Off to the side the two Vorlons stood astonished. The Empire had long sought ascension – to fully cast aside their bondage to the physical universe. While they appeared as beings of light and energy to the younger races they were still mortal, physical beings tied to some organic matter. To truly ascend to the higher planes would be to truly become enlightened. They had long searched for it, though so far all their attempts had failed – one nearly destroying the whole galaxy when they opened a door for the extra-dimensional terror of the Sinhindrea.

The fact that the Tau'ri knew of ascension – and from Captain McKenzie's words were actively reaching for it themselves – was astonishing. It would certainly explain where their Alteran 'parents' had mysteriously vanished off to a million years ago and now the 'children' were trying to do it themselves. It was a strong pointer to their maturity as a species. Both Vorlons waited with their species equivalent of baited breath to see how Captain McKenzie responded to Delenn's question.

"Indeed I have, ambassador," McKenzie answered. "I have seen people ascend at the end of their physical lives. Sometimes they leave a body behind, other times they don't. It depends really on which level of ascension they can reach. Though all are bound by a very strict rulebook that they enforce themselves, ascended beings have powers comparable to gods and the rules are needed to ensure that they do not abuse their power. For that reason ascended beings very rarely interact with anyone on the lower planes of existence – even with members of their own family."

"Nonsense, humans are not capable of this form of transformation only first ones have ever been seen to be anything more than organic matter. A human from solid to energy is not only impossible it's frankly ridiculous they are amongst the youngest to travel into space, whatever your ploy is Captain it will not work." The Drazi spat.

"Whilst I am not as sure of your works as my Drazi friend here." Nadron said. "It does not give the assurance that the Tau'ri mean no harm."

"What would you have me say, ambassador," Aaron answered. "We have no desires to enforce our will or beliefs on anyone else. If you do not bother us we will not bother you. If you ask for information from us we will provide it – providing you won't be able to use it to harm another race. We will not have the blood of others on our hands."

Nadron started to open his mouth to respond to that when Ambassador Kalika of the Abbai put a hand on his arm as she stood up herself. "That is understandable," she said. "The Abbai accept that the Tau'ri mean no harm, though we have a great many questions."

Aaron smiled. "Then we will do our best to answer them, ambassador. But I believe a more in depth discussion is best carried out one on one."

"I have to agree," Kalika replied. "Commander Sinclair I believe it is time we called a vote on this issue."

* * *

**Rivendell**

**A Few Minutes Later**

Governor Alison Shepherd sat in the peace and quiet of her chambers. Like all cityship governors/commanders her private apartment was a spacious affair located in one of the cities core towers – though not in the main tower which was taken up by more important things than apartments, it had its own balcony that was orientated in such away that you could look out on the inland sea with only the smaller towers on their platform at the end of the south-east pier spoiling part of the view. The view was lovely but she wasn't interested in it tonight – nights on this planet appeared to be quite long nearly 14 hours in total – and at this time of year they appeared to be cold.

So instead she sat in a synthetic leather chair in her main living room engaging in another favourite pastime of hers. Reading. But not reading off an electronic pad or off a floating holographic screen but an actual old fashioned hard backed book, she had a great many of them; including such classics as Lord of the Rings which she was currently reading again. A smile graced her face as she came to the point in Fellowship of the Ring where Lady Arwen turned up to convey the ailing Frodo to Rivendell and Lord Elrond. Not for the first time she wondered how J.R Tolkien would have thought if he'd known that centuries after his death the Tau'ri would name a cityship and its artificial intelligence after two of his creations in the epic saga of good versus evil that was Lord of the Rings. She liked to imagine that he would have been flattered by the honour.

A sudden soft but attention grabbing chime suddenly split the air of the chambers and Alison looked up from her book. _Now what,_ she thought as the chime came again. This time she recognised it as the chime Arwen used when she wished to speak with her but didn't want to startle her by suddenly appearing behind her as Avalon's A.I Arthur had a habit of doing.

"Yes, Arwen," she called.

Immediately the A.I's holographic avatar appeared in front of her. "Good evening, Governor Shepherd," Arwen said. "Please forgive me for disturbing you."

"It's quite alright, Arwen," Alison replied knowing that Arwen would have never disturbed her in her chambers unless it was important. "What is it?"

"We have just received a subspace databurst transmission from one of the probes dispatched to search for neutronium," Arwen answered. "The probe has large deposits of the material beneath the surface of a gas giant moon four hundred and twelve light years from our location in the next spiral arm of the galaxy. The planet also has considerable deposits of naquada and a mineral whose atomic structure appears identical to the material used in the 'jump gate' located a few light years from here."

Alison smiled. "Excellent," she said. The fact that neutronium had been found so quickly was a good sign for them, it would make things considerable easier as they employed the recommendations of the Kasaki plan and began building a full scale colony on this planet – a planet they still had to get around to naming. The fact that yet more naquada had been found was also a plus as while this planet had enough naquada and trinium reserves to last a few centuries at least it wouldn't hurt to find additional supplies.

"But there is more to report isn't there, Arwen," she said.

"Yes governor there is," Arwen answered. "The system in question possesses a large asteroid belt that is giving off very unusual radiation readings."

"Unusual in what way and how big is the asteroid field?"

"The probes report indicates that the asteroid field is both very dense and spans a distance of 0.75 astronomical units," Arwen answered. "As for the radiation it appears to be a number of different types, including large amounts of neutron radiation."

Alison's eyebrows shot up at that. That was a very large asteroid field indeed, spanning three quarters of the distance between Earth and Sol. Thinking about it she couldn't recall the last time that the Tau'ri had encountered an asteroid field that big that was so dense. And then their was the radiation, where in the world did that come from as most asteroid fields were essentially inert in radiation terms – at least in their experience.

"Interesting," she said at last. "What is the probe doing now?"

"It is currently conducting in depth geological scans of the moon from orbit, Governor Shepherd," Arwen answered. "If you wish I could send a transmission to the probe and change its instructions."

"No we need that survey information," Alison answered before sighing and thinking about what to do next. They needed the in depth geological information to find the optimum location for the mining site, but she was also very curious about the systems asteroid field. After a second she had the answer. "Contact the other probes," she instructed. "Change their orders two are to join the first probe in the system and commence detailed surveys and scans of the asteroid field. Recall the others here."

"As you wish, Governor Shepherd," Arwen answered and inclined her head slightly as she carried out the instructions. "It is done," she said returning her avatars head to its normal posture.

"Excellent. In the meantime tell the nanoforge operating crews to begin manufacturing the components for a mining outpost," Alison ordered. "And begin drawing up a list of personnel with the right experience and skills to staff such an outpost. We'll discuss it in depth at the staff meeting tomorrow morning also transmit a message up to the _Achilles_ asking Admiral Robyns to attend."

"As you wish, in the meantime might I be so bold as to observe that you could do with going to sleep, Governor Shepherd," Arwen said. "My sensors indicate you are very tired."

Inwardly Alison groaned slightly. She should have guessed that Arwen would notice that she was tired and suggest that she retire for the night. The A.I could be a right mother hen when she wanted to be. She considered telling Arwen why she hadn't retired already – she was worried about having another dream about their situation as she'd been having since they were transported here – but in the end decided against it. For all of her intelligence and capabilities Arwen at the end of the day was just a computer program – a very complex one but a computer program nevertheless – she would not understand.

"I'll think about it," Alison admitted. "I haven't been sleeping that well recently."

"I am aware," Arwen replied. "Might I suggest you go to the infirmary and ask Doctor Blake for something to help you sleep?"

"I have thought about it," Alison admitted. "But I don't want to do that unless I have to."

"The people of this city will not benefit from the leadership of an exhausted, governor," Arwen pointed out.

A faint smile twigged at the corners of Alison's mouth. "Your right as usual," she said to the A.I. Arwen was practically the only one in Rivendell that she could really let her hair down with; there was no point really in hiding anything. Due to the internal sensors Arwen was constantly aware of everything that was happening in the city at all times. Though there were only rare instances where she could and would act on what Rivendell's sensors revealed, such as when it was necessary to enact quarantine protocols or alert the cities three hundred strong force of security marines to an incident or a security breach. Which didn't happen often even though Rivendell was home to twenty-five thousand people, the only home they would ever likely know now, thirty five thousand if you included the crews of the orbiting warships, everyone was well disciplined.

"Would you like me to alert, Doctor Blake," Arwen asked.

"No, no I'll go myself, Arwen."

"Very well, do you require anything else, Governor Shepherd?"

"Not right now, Arwen. You can go." Arwen nodded and vanished with all the fuss of a bursting soap bubble.

Alison sighed and gazed at the spot where the avatar had been standing. She was pleased about the discovery of neutronium they would definitely need it as time went on, though the odd radiation and the unusually large asteroid field added an intriguing puzzle. A puzzle whose answer would probably be most interesting and one they could pursue while also mining the gas giants moon for the needed neutronium. They would need to move quickly now that they knew the neutronium was there to set up the outpost to mine it, which meant there would be a lot of work ahead for her. And of course Arwen was right in saying that she would not be at her best if she was exhausted.

Sighing again she retrieved her bookmark from a small table next to her armchair, slipped it into the book and closed it, before standing up. Quietly she left her quarters for the nearest transporter station for the short hop back to the main tower, specifically the levels of the main tower that housed the cities main infirmary – though their were smaller ones scattered all over the city only the main infirmary was manned 24/7 or 29/7 as the case was for this particular planet. She just hoped that Rivendell's chief medic Doctor Abraham Blake would be able to give her something that would help her get to sleep quickly and efficiently.

As she was going to need all the rest she could get.


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

**Council Chamber**

**Babylon Five, That Same Time**

Ambassador Nedron scowled at Ambassador Kalika – while he had the greatest of respect for the Abbai he was not so sure that now was the right time for a vote on the idea that this other race of Humans who called themselves the Tau'ri meant no harm. They didn't have enough information about them to make an informed decision as all they really knew about the Tau'ri could be summed up in three simple points.

One they were apparently human, two that they seemed to possess a level of technology that was frighteningly advanced in away that was beyond anything known to the local races – except possibly the technology of the Vorlons. And finally that they were apparently behind one of the most ancient and fantastical of Earther legends; the legend of Atlantis; a legend that had inspired Earther filmmakers for generations and produced some amazing fantasy adventures that were to this day very popular on his peoples homeworld, a legend that – if the Tau'ri were to be believed – was based on a real place, on a real thing, albeit something even more fantastical than the legend itself was.

"With all due respect to my honoured colleague I do not believe we currently have enough information to make such a determination," he said. "We know to little to make an informed decision on whether Captain McKenzie speaks the truth and the Tau'ri mean us no harm. Now is not the time for a vote on the issue."

"I have to agree," Londo Mollari added leaning forward slightly in his seat. "While I wish to believe your words, Captain McKenzie we dare not. The Centauri Republic is not convinced that you mean us no harm. How can we be sure that you are not lying to all of us here? How can we be sure that you are not preparing an invasion of our territories?"

Aaron sighed as a number of the ambassadors in the League worlds made sounds of agreement, with the notable exception of Ambassador Kalika. "With all due respect, Ambassador Mollari you are being somewhat paranoid," he replied. "As I've already said we have no interest in taking anything from anybody in this sector of this galaxy. We are not thieves nor are we a warlike race, such is not our way."

"I wish I could believe you," Londo replied. "But I cannot, it would be beyond foolish to trust you while knowing so little about who you are and what you want in this galaxy if as you say you are from a completely different place beyond the rim. And we Centauri are not foolish we didn't get to be the lion of the galaxy by being foolishly trusting."

"No you just invaded innocent worlds and enslaved most of their populations and massacring the rest," G'Kar snapped back some of his anger and hatred for what the Centauri had done to his world and his people coming into his voice as he spoke. In their hundred year reign of terror the Centauri had transformed Narn from a green paradise world into a harsh, barren world that was only just able to support its people. And that was just the start the crimes the Centauri Republic had committed against the Narn race were myriad; crimes for which the Narn people would eventually get justice; justice in the form of cleansing the universe of the self proclaimed lion of the galaxy.

"Gentlemen," Sinclair said sharply as Londo looked about ready to launch into an angry tirade back at the Narn ambassador. The warning in his voice was clear, he wasn't about to let the centuries worth of bad blood between the Narn and the Centauri erupt into yet another shouting match in the middle of the council chamber. Despite their mutual anger and hatred both ambassadors clearly heard the warning in Sinclair's voice and subsided glowering at each other in mutual animosity. Satisfied that Londo and G'Kar would behave – for now at least – Jeff looked back at Captain McKenzie. Who seemed to be looking at the two ambassadors with a look that was both thoughtful and understanding.

"I apologise for that outburst, captain," he said.

"It's quite alright, commander," Aaron answered. "I am well aware of how wrongs committed in the past can taint the present and the future. While I am not familiar with the history between the Narn and the Centauri I can clearly see the signs of one that is laced with much bloodshed, anger and hatred," he looked pointedly at the two ambassadors in question, "a past your two species must somehow move beyond or it will lead to your mutual destruction."

"Well said," Delenn agreed, looking over at Londo and G'Kar. Both she and Commander Sinclair had told both that they had to learn to let go of the past between their species in order to build a better future. But neither race seemed to be able to do so; instead they traded insults and hurled accusations in each others faces on a common basis. Though she hadn't said anything she feared where it could lead as such long standing resentments were likely to be picked up upon by the Shadows. Who definitely wouldn't hesitate to breath on the flickering embers of that resentment, fanning them into a fire that would engulf that entire sector in the horror of all out interstellar war.

"Our affairs do not concern you, either of you," Londo snapped back, deeply offended by the implication – real or imagined – that the Tau'ri and the Minbari were judging the actions of the Centauri. Something they had absolutely no right to do, his people had walked the stars for almost a thousand years they were the lion of the galaxy no one but no one told them what to do. "We will do as we please as we always have done." _Not that that convention of genetic defects that make up the Centaurum do anything these days,_ he thought, _we're becoming a third rate power in the galaxy and they don't seem to care._

"That is of course your choice, ambassador," Aaron replied. "As I said every species, every individual has the right and obligation to choose their own path. Freedom of will is the right of all sentient species. All I can tell you is what we have seen happen before we've seen entire races die because they could not get over wrongs real or imagined that were committed against them in the past. We seen whole planets burnt to lifeless cinders or reduced to scattered asteroids in wars fuelled by past hatreds that species have not been able to put behind them."

"You have seen worlds destroyed by war," Ambassador Nedron asked awed and a little scared by the kind of firepower needed to do something like that. "Literally blasted to pieces?"

"I haven't personally, ambassador no but others of my kind have," Aaron replied. "It is always a tragedy when an entire species ceases to be."

"Yes," Kosh Narenek agreed.

"That is one of the reasons, the main reason why we are here now," Aaron added. "You know of us now, so we want peaceful relations with all of you, we don't want any misunderstandings between us and any of you to lead to war. I am not asking for your trust overnight, I know that would be impossible for any of you to really give. All we ask is that you give us a chance to prove to you that we mean no harm."

"Those are good words, captain," Nedron replied. "But they are only words. We require proof of your words, only then will we be satisfied that you mean what you say." Around him most of the League ambassadors nodded in agreement.

Aaron sighed, he was starting to get more than a little fed up with this discussion, it felt somewhat like he was going around in circles. These ambassadors seemed to be somewhat paranoid with a very cold war attitude to them, something he was depressingly familiar with having spent years patrolling the Tau'ri Federation/Aschen Confederation border region of his universes version of the Milky Way. That particular 'cold war' had been raging for centuries, and didn't look like it was going to end anytime soon as the Aschen showed no sign of changing their ways of manipulation and mostly covert conquest of unsuspecting, more primitive worlds. Worlds that in many cases were worlds his people would protect but otherwise not interfere with – like the Asgard they allowed each world, each culture to develop in its own way at its own pace. Though unlike the Asgard they did quietly encourage primitive worlds to start advancing technologically, without directly providing them with anything, even though they weren't confined by the tenants of the old Protected Planets Treaty in the way the Asgard had been before the fall of the Goa'uld System Lords.

"What kind of proof do you require ambassador," he asked at last keeping his voice calm, though it was obvious to anyone who understood Human body language that he was starting to loose his patience with the Brakiri representative.

"I am not sure what my government would accept," Nedron replied. "Though it would go a long way to proving your sincerity if you could send a civilian ambassador to this council. You are the captain of what is no doubt an extremely powerful warship you representing your people sends the wrong message."

"I have to agree," the Vree ambassador said. "If you really wish us to believe you mean no harm a civilian ambassador would have been better."

"As I have said no one was available at the time, ambassadors," Aaron replied. "But we are going in circles here now. Let me be clear that at the end of the day what you believe about us and our intentions makes no difference to us. All you need to be aware of is we are not a violent people, not anymore we left such juvenile behaviour behind long ago, we will only fight when given no other choice. If you do not threaten us, then you have nothing to fear from us. Trust will attend to itself in time as right now there seems to be precious little of that."

"Are you saying you do not trust us," Nedron said. "If that is the case then how can we trust you when you do not trust us?"

"Enough," Kalika said speaking up. "This reasoning is circular and will not get us anywhere. As you are aware Nedron we have given the Tau'ri no reason to trust us, but I agree with Captain McKenzie. Trust will come with time as we learn more of each other."

"I have to agree," Delenn added. Nedron scowled and was about to lurch into another demand for more information, but a glare from Kalika stopped him in his tracks and a glance at the other league members showed that a number like the Llort, Markab and Hiach were starting to follow the Abbai lead. The fact that the Minbari were apparently agreeing with the Abbai position would only encourage them and possibly drive some of the others into siding with Kalika. While he could count on the Drazi and possibly the Vree to continue supporting him in his arguments he knew that he would loose this time. The only way to possibly get answers out of the Tau'ri would be to present them with a united front of all the League, something that didn't look like it was going to happen now.

"Very well," he said at last. "Captain McKenzie be warned we will be watching your people closely."

"As will we," Londo agreed eying the Tau'ri commander, still a little offended by the implied judgement of his people. Though he was no fool and could see a confidence and arrogance to the Tau'ri, the same kind of arrogant confidence that the Minbari and the even more isolationist and mysterious Yolu had, a attitude that said that the Tau'ri were well aware that there was little or nothing the Younger Races could do to harm them. He could only wonder how well earned it was. Then there was the matter of the open respect he had seen the Vorlons showing the Tau'ri, which was an unprecedented occurrence in his experience – especially as as far as he knew there was no known race powerful enough to be a threat of the enigmatic, but undeniably powerful Vorlon Empire. The Vorlons didn't need to show anyone respect, the fact that they were showing respect to the Tau'ri was _interesting_ to say the least and also somewhat concerning as it implied that the Tau'ri possessed power on a par with the Vorlons themselves.

"That is of course your choice, ambassadors," Aaron answered the sound of his voice bringing Londo out of his thoughts. "I hope in time we will learn to trust each other, but we have time we must learn more of each other first. After all as an old saying of my people goes 'if you immediately know the candlelight is fire then the meal was cooked a long time ago.'"

"The wind must learn to know the mountain," Kosh Menkusi agreed a little surprised by the saying she had just heard and the wisdom that was implied in it. _You are a wise species,_ she thought looking at the Tau'ri, _and you obviously know who you are. Good, we will be able to have a relationship with you as we did with the Alterans before you. And maybe, just maybe you will be able to help us deal with the distasteful chaos that is about to come now that the dark ones are starting to move._

"Exactly," Aaron answered deciphering what the Vorlon was trying to say with relative ease as it was nowhere near as cryptic as the ascended could be sometimes – when they chose to interact with species on the lower planes of existence that was, which wasn't that often. A glance around the room however told him that the other races didn't quite understand what the cryptic sayings meant. _They will in time,_ he thought, _as long as they are willing to open there minds, though that will probably be a strange experience for people like Ambassador Nedron._

"Commander Sinclair," he said turning to look at Sinclair. "Might I suggest we recess for a time, I've said what I came here to say. With your permission my ship will remain here for awhile, until a suitable ambassador can be appointed."

"That will be difficult," Sinclair replied. "The Babylon Charter strictly forbids the presence of warships in Babylon Five space for periods of time longer than a few days. No exceptions can be made."

"Very well I will order the _Jutland_ to withdraw," Aaron replied. "Some of my people will remain here until such a time as a formal ambassador can be assigned. Assuming of course that that is acceptable to the council?"

"I believe it will be," Kalika answered speaking up. "Commander Sinclair I must once again call for a vote on the matter of allowing a Tau'ri presence to remain on this station until such time as a proper ambassador can be appointed."

Sinclair nodded. "Is there a second," he asked knowing that the Babylon Charter demanded that there be a second before the council could vote on any issue that was before them.

"Yes," came the lyrical voice of Ambassador Kosh, surprising almost the whole room. The Vorlon was taking far more active part in this special session of the council than was normal, even when the typically enigmatic Vorlon bothered to turn up for the meetings.

"Very well," Sinclair said coming out of his shock, though he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised by the Vorlon behaviour. They had been acting very oddly since the Tau'ri probe was briefly captured, a probe that he now believed to have been some sort of intelligence gathering probe. "Ambassador G'Kar what is the Narn Regimes vote?"

G'Kar remained silent for a moment before leaning forward. "While the Narn Regime shares the concerns expressed by Ambassadors Nedron and Mollari we also see the potential benefits of further association with the Tau'ri," he said at last. "Therefore we vote yes."

"Ambassador Mollari," Sinclair said to tell Londo that it was his turn to vote.

"As with the Narn the Centauri Republic see's the benefits of furthering a diplomatic relationship with the Tau'ri Federation," Londo replied. "Therefore we also vote yes. The Tau'ri can maintain a presence on Babylon Five until such a time as they can appoint a proper ambassador to this council. But be warned," he added looking pointedly at McKenzie, "we shall be watching you very closely."

"Ambassador Delenn may the council hear your vote," Sinclair continued in his role as chairperson of the advisory council.

Delenn bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement. "After careful consideration of this issue I have to agree with my colleagues," she said. "The Minbari Federation votes yes."

"Ambassador Kosh may the council hear your vote."

"Yes," Kosh Narenek answered.

"Is that your vote," Sinclair asked.

"Yes," Kosh repeated in a textbook Vorlon one word answer. Sinclair nodded in acceptance somewhat relieved that something's with the Vorlons hadn't changed considering the out of previously observed character behaviour the Vorlons had been embarked on with regards to the Tau'ri.

"Very well," he said. "As it falls to me to cast the vote of the Earth Alliance I must also vote yes upon this issue. The council will now hear the majority vote of the League worlds," he continued though the vote from the League was only a formality now. With all five of the major powers agreeing on something – for once – Ambassador Kalika's motion would be carried. "All League worlds in favour raise a hand."

To his total lack of surprise most of the League representatives raised their hands, with only the Brakiri, Drazi and Vree ambassadors keeping their hands down to indicate there disagreement.

"Opposed," Sinclair continued as most of the ambassadors lowered their hands only for the Drazi, Brakiri and Vree to raise there hands. "Then it is decided," he continued. "Captain McKenzie the council agrees that you may keep a presence here until such a time as a formal ambassador can be appointed to this council."

Aaron nodded. "Thank you," he said. "Thank you all for your support. Now with the council's permission I would like to return to my ship to make the appropriate arrangements."

"That should be possible," Sinclair agreed before looking around at the members of the council. "If anyone wishes to say anything more on this issue then please say your piece now," the council remained silent, though Nedron did look like he wanted to say something more but didn't now that a decision had been made. "Very well, this special session of the Babylon Five Advisory Council and the League of Non-aligned Worlds is hereby adjourned." As he spoke Sinclair once again picked up the gavel in front of his position and brought it down to produce a loud knock sound, indicating to all that the meeting was over.

Immediately the different ambassadors began to stand up and leave the room, many of them engaged in conversation with one another. Especially among the league ambassadors, looking over at them Aaron McKenzie guessed that Ambassador Nedron was trying to persuade some of the others to back him and his governments stance. _I think we'll have to keep an eye on the Brakiri,_ he thought, _they're probably going to cause us no end of diplomatic trouble._

He was distracted from his thoughts when the Vorlon with the more rounded encounter suit approached him. "We must speak further," Kosh Menkusi said speaking in the language of the Alterans once again.

"We will," Aaron agreed in the same language, "in due time."

Menkusi bowed her headpiece in acknowledgement and acceptance, like the Alterans before them the Tau'ri appeared to be a cautious, ordered people – a people who knew a secret that the Vorlons had sought for so long. "I look forward to it," she said and she meant it, though discussing ascension would have to wait for awhile, it was not time yet – not now that the Shadows were beginning to move. "We have much to discuss."

"Indeed," Aaron replied before the two Vorlons withdrew from standing near him and left the council chambers. Only to be replaced a few moments later by Commander Sinclair and Mr Garibaldi with Ambassador Delenn hanging back from them, Aaron guessed that she – if Minbari had separate male and female genders – wanted to speak with the commander after they left. "Commander," he said switching to speaking in the non-accented English that was Tau'ri standard. "I believe that went quite well."

"As well as can be expected, captain," Sinclair replied. "You actually got off quite lightly many of the League ambassadors can be… tempered at times."

"The ambassadors do strike me as being somewhat paranoid I think is the word," Aaron answered. "But then there is a tension to all of you that is somewhat unhelpful to the noble purpose for which your kind constructed this station. If you really wish to prevent war then you will have to learn to begin really trusting each other."

"Believe me we're working on that," Sinclair said. "But I will admit that it is an uphill struggle, there is a lot of conflict in the history of this galaxy. It casts a long shadow. Much as we all try to learn the lessons of history, most of us anyway. Somehow I don't think the Narn and Centauri are going to change anytime soon.

"But we are getting off track. Mr Garibaldi will take you back to the docking bays for your trip back to the _Jutland_. I will have quarters in Green Sector made ready for your delegation when they return."

"Thank you, commander," Aaron replied.

"If you will come with me," Garibaldi said before leading the way out the council chamber. Aaron and the rest of his small entourage followed leaving Sinclair alone in the council chamber with Delenn.

"That went well," Sinclair said aloud. "Though why do I believe that this meeting has raised far more questions than answers?"

"I know what you mean," Delenn admitted. "The Tau'ri have told us a bit about them without really telling us anything. I have to admit that I am very curious about them."

"You're not the only one, Delenn. Though I was surprised that the Drazi were willing to support the Brakiri today, maybe we're finally starting to get through to those two."

"We can but hope," Delenn replied. "Now if you'll excuse me commander, there are urgent matters of state that require my attention."

"Of course Delenn."

"Good day, commander," Delenn said giving a slight formal Minbari bow before leaving the council chamber, deep in thought. As she had said to the commander the Tau'ri had given some information without really saying anything and it was apparent that they like the Vorlons could be maddeningly cryptic when they wanted to be. The council meeting had given her no real information about the Tau'ri, not that she had expected it to. _Once they return I will have to set up a meeting with their representatives,_ she thought, _and just hope that I will be able to get some more information about them, enough to work out just where they stand with regards to the war that is coming._

Somehow though she didn't think it was going to be that simple.

* * *

**Edge of Milky Way Galaxy**

**Tau'ri Federation **

**A Short Time Later**

Governor Richard Carter smiled as he read through the latest progress reports from geologists probing the secrets of this planets geology. The report like all the others was very positive, this planet – out here at the very edge of the Milky Way – was very rich in both trinium and neutronium, indeed it appeared to possess some of the richest neutronium deposits found for a number of years. _Excellent,_ he thought, _the Senate Resources Committee will be most pleased, this much neutronium on top of the naquada rich asteroids we found when we first arrived more than justifies the expense of bringing this city here._

Putting the electronic pad down for a moment Richard allowed his smile to widen into a grin as he looked around his office, and at the open door to the balcony outside that was letting in fresh, cool air rich with the smells of this planet. If anyone had told him a year ago that he would be in the position of governor/commander of the cityship Alderaan he would not have believed them. After all until being given this assignment he'd just been a minor administrator on a Tau'ri Defence Force starbase, like millions of others only with the slight distinction of having served two terms in the military when he was younger. Yet here he was and he was enjoying every minute of it – even though the responsibility was enormous given that he was not only responsible for surveying this worlds mineral wealth but also responsible for the lives of everyone in the city. A population that between the various scientists, technicians, families and a small military garrison number close on thirty four thousand souls of all ages. A population that would only increase closer and closer to the cities maximum population capacity as mining operations got underway.

A faint knock on the sheet crystal windows of his office caught his attention and he looked over to see one of the Defence Force officers who formed the control room staff in the doorway. "Yes," he asked.

"Sorry to disturb you governor but our long range sensors have detected a large group of ships in hyperspace approaching our location from intergalactic space," the younger man reported calmly.

Richard frowned. "How many ships," he asked.

"Leia estimates three hundred and twenty-four ships, sir," the officer replied. "We've analysed their hyperdrive signatures and confirmed that there a mixture of Tau'ri, Jaffa and Asgard vessels, however they appearing to be travelling at a far slower speed than what they are capable of."

"It could be the remains of the Fourth Fleet that we were told to watch out for," Richard said thoughtfully, "how long until they arrive?"

"By my calculations governor the fleet will arrive in orbit of this planet in twenty-four minutes, thirty-seven seconds," the cities A.I said as her holographic avatar blinked into existence in the room. As befitting the cities name Alderaan's A.I had chosen the vocal patterns and appearance of the fictional Princess Leia Organa from the ancient Star Wars series of movies. The holographic avatar that faced him was thus that of a very beautiful young woman, she was wearing a long, flowing, revealing white dress and wore a silver pendant that extended down into generous cleavage, completing her avatar's beauty Leia had given the hologram, long mahogany coloured hair elegantly styled with platinum cord.

"I see. Very well alert all personnel to prepare to rend humanitarian assistance to the incoming ships, all medical personnel to stand by to receive casualties. Recall all the jumpers on asteroid prospecting duties we're probably going to need them."

"Yes sir," the young officer replied before hurrying off to carry out Richard's instructions.

"Leia in the meantime I want you to send a series of subspace transmissions to Earth, Dakara and Orilla informing the various governments that the ships are inbound to our location."

"As you wish," Leia replied and inclined her head slightly as with another part of her mind she accessed three of Alderaan's subspace communications arrays and sent a series of transmissions into the subspace comm network that bound many of the galaxies in the local group together, allowing for example someone on Earth to communicate in real time with someone millions of light years away on Lantea or on Orilla.

"Messages transmitted, governor," Leia said after a moment returning her avatar's head to the normal posture. "Do you require anything more of me?"

"No that will be all for now, Leia," Richard replied. Leia nodded then vanished with all the fuss of a bursting soap bubble leaving Richard alone in his office. Richard sighed softly, stood up from his chair and went out onto the balcony. Leaning on the trinium railing he gazed out across the metal and crystal skyline of Alderaan to the majestic, snow capped mountains in the distance, mountains that surrounded three sides of the giant freshwater lake that the city floated on. In the distance a flight of bird-analogous creatures flew, emitting soft clucking, squawking sounds that carried on the wind to his ears.

It was a peaceful scene that was a sharp counterpoint to his suddenly turbulent thoughts. Like all planetary governors and command officials in the outer sectors of the Milky Way he had been briefed on what the forth fleet had been through in their mission to attempt to discover Rivendell's fate. Yet he had not really expected them to come here, though when he thought about it then it was not particularly surprising, considering that as a cityship Alderaan had more sophisticated and comprehensive medical facilities available than other locations in the regions facing outwards into the great void between galaxies. If there were critically injured people on some of the warships – which there were bound to be – then this was the logical place for them to come. _Things are going to get bad,_ he thought, _especially as the unknown alien attack upon the Forth Fleet and the disappearance of Rivendell which is probably linked to the aliens is almost certain to lead us into war._

At that thought and the knowledge of Rivendell's terrifying silence Richard shivered and glanced around at the gleaming towers, piers and elevated walkways of Alderaan. The disappearance of Rivendell and everyone on board her was a sharp reminded to him that for all their beauty, all their power and grandeur cityships were almost as fragile as the snow crystals their six pointed design mimicked. Not for the first time he wondered whose idea it was to send a cityship – albeit one with only a relatively small crew of scientists, technicians and soldiers – as the centre piece of an expedition to a newly discovered dark matter galaxy when it would have made far more sense to send conventional deep space exploration ships to survey the galaxy first before setting up an outpost. It would have certainly saved the lives of everyone on Rivendell if indeed the city and the squadron of warships assigned to support and protect her had been destroyed. _Someone in exploration command or the government probably didn't want to wait,_ he thought, _after all no exploration ships are due back from their missions for a number of years yet. And it's been centuries since anyone other than the Aschen have been a threat to us and they are more of a nuisance than anything else. So they sent Rivendell anyway and now that arrogance may well have been response for many thousands of deaths and be about to plunge us into interstellar war._

Sighing softly he put the thoughts of Rivendell's fate – and the in hindsight arrogant overconfidence that was partially to blame for her destruction – out of his mind. There were going to be wounded people on the incoming fleet, they were the priority now. Mourning the dead could wait, those still alive came first. Pushing away from the balcony rail Richard turned and headed back inside, his quiet city and planet was about to be turned into a madhouse and he had a lot to do to get ready for it.

* * *

**TFS Repulse**

**Twenty Minutes Later**

Admiral Helena Hawkins rubbed her eyes in exhaustion as she sat in the privacy of her ready room onboard the _Repulse_. Even with her eyes closed she saw the casualty figures and the seemingly endless damage reports. The battle with the unknown, but highly aggressive alien denizens of the dark matter galaxy had hurt them badly – far more badly than any enemy had hurt them in a very long time. In fact she had to concede that the defeat of her fleet at the hands of the aliens was perhaps the worst single Tau'ri military defeat in space since the Ori Crusade.

While it was true that just over half the combined Asgard. Tau'ri, Jaffa fleet under her command had survived the battle there was not one ship in the fleet that hadn't escaped damage. On some ships – including her own – the damage was relatively minor, being confined to some overloaded or burned out systems but other ships weren't so lucky, especially those ships that had suffered hull breaches. The alien plasma weapon had penetrated deep into a number of ships when shields had been hammered flat by the powerful weapon, melting through thick normally highly resistant trinium/naquada/carbon alloys or in the case of the Asgard trinium/neutronium alloys with stunning ease. Analysis had confirmed what the Asgards sensors had revealed during the battle – that the alien plasma weapons were antiproton based, which accounted for their ability to cut through even their strongest metals with such ease. But that wasn't all; the alien weapons had apparently left an unknown form of ionising radiation behind, radiation that had spilled through multiple compartments on dozens of decks on damaged ships before radiation countermeasures could stop the spread. Poisoning crew members whose conditions had so far defied all attempts to cure and causing continuous systemic failures as the radiation affected control crystals and power relays at the molecular level, damaging them beyond the abilities of self-repair nanites to correct. Engineers across the fleet were being run ragged, on some of the ships it was all they could do to keep the ships running with little chance of repairing them outside of a shipyard.

And then there were the casualty reports. Hundreds of thousands of Tau'ri, Jaffa and Asgard had died during the battle and in the aftermath. Even more were dying now especially on those ships affected by the alien radiation, some were so bad that they'd been placed in stasis chambers until such time as they could get them to more advanced medical facilities than what were available aboard ship. Facilities that were straining at the seams as they struggled to cope with the flood of wounded. _This is just the start though isn't it,_ Helena thought, _this battle has ensured that we are soon going to end up at war with whoever those aliens are. Thor has as much told me that the Asgard High Council is likely to declare war on them, the Jaffa are likely to do the same. And to top that off the Senate is going to be up in arms about what happened and the likelihood that Rivendell has been destroyed. For the first time in centuries we could soon be engaged in a shooting war._

It wasn't a pleasant prospect. But it was something she didn't see them being able to avoid, not now, not after so much death. Though she hesitated to admit it even to herself but Helena could feel the anger inside herself, anger directed at the aliens for doing this to them and their allies, anger at herself for all the deaths under her authority and anger at whichever idiot had thought sending a cityship to an unknown, dark matter galaxy was a good idea. _There is no point in portioning blame though,_ she thought, _we're all somewhat to blame for this. It's been so long since anyone was a real threat to us that we've started to fall into the same trap as the Ancients. We've been starting to forget just how dangerous the universe can really be and how we are still fragile beings despite all of our technology._

The sudden crystalline sounding bleeping of her desks communicator brought her out of her increasingly bleak thoughts. Straightening up in the chair – having slipped into an involuntary slough – she pressed a familiar crystal control on the offending instrument.

"Yes," she asked.

"Forgive me for disturbing you admiral," Captain Baker responded as a holographic screen appeared in front of her showing the face and upper torso of her flagships captain from where he was commanding the _Repulse's_ main bridge. "But we're approaching the Datura System on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. Long range sensors have confirmed the presence of a cityship on the eastern continent of the third planet. We'll enter the system in just under four minutes."

"Understood," Helena replied feeling a surge of relief. She had originally intended to take the fleet all the way back to Starbase 233 but with so much damage to so many ships she hadn't been certain that they would all make it to their destination. That was why she'd ordered the fleet to alter their incoming vector slightly to take them past the Datura System as she was sure that there was a cityship scheduled to be there. And she had proven to be correct, which was a relief especially as a cityship both had access to the medical resources they needed to tend to their wounded and would be connected to the Stargate network allowing them to ship the even more seriously wounded through the gates to the state of the art medical facilities on some of the most heavily developed Federation or Jaffa worlds. It would also take the stress of the power systems on the more damaged ships and those whose systems were being affected by the alien radiation. Systems that were barely holding up to the stress of hyperspace travel – even with all ships reducing power to their hyperdrives to make it easier for the damaged ships to keep up. Systems that would have undergone catastrophic failures if they'd stayed in hyperspace for to much longer.

"Instruct the fleet to drop out of hyperspace when we enter the system," Helena instructed, "and proceed to orbit of Datura Three. I'll be on the flag bridge shortly please ask Supreme Commander Thor if he would like to join me there."

"Yes ma'am."

Helena signed off making the hologram evaporate before standing up and headed out of her ready room for the flag bridge. Soon this long flight with their tails tucked between the legs would be over and the fleet – what was left of it anyway – would drop out of hyperspace and she would at last be able to have a rest. She doubted it would last long though as she was bound to be called back to Avalon on Earth to meet with her superiors and be debriefed on what had happened to the fleet. And what she thought it meant for the future given that war between the unknown aliens and the Tau'ri Federation was almost a certainty now. She knew it would be if the Asgard High Council especially declared war, the political and popular pressure for them to support the face that had been their allies for centuries would ensure that outcome.

* * *

It took only a minute or so for Helena to make her way onto the flag bridge, but it took all that time for her to martial herself into the commanding presence that her crew was used to seeing from her. She couldn't let them see how exhausted she was – it would be counterproductive to their already battered morale for them to know that she hadn't really been sleeping well. Not since the battle.

"Status report," she ordered as she crossed the flag bridge to her command chair and sat down.

"The fleet is approaching Datura, ma'am," sensors reported. "The fleet is slowing down in preparation for hyperspace emergence."

"Time to normal space reversion," Helena asked not surprised to hear that the fleet was slowing down, it was normal for ships to reduce power to hyperdrives – dropping speed from a few million times the speed of light to a few hundred times – just short of their destination. It was to ensure that they both didn't inadvertently overshoot their target and had the minimal amount of hyperspace inertia to fight when they dropped back into normal space.

"Three minutes, ma'am," navigation reported consulting the feeds from the officer's colleague on the main bridge.

"Understood," Helena replied just as the sound of the flag bridge doors opening caught her attention. Looking over at the heavily armoured doors she saw the familiar diminutive form of an Asgard coming into the room and moving straight towards her.

"You asked to see me, Admiral Hawkins," Thor said,

"Yes, Thor. The fleet is approaching the Datura system."

"Will we be dropping out of hyperspace," Thor asked faintly recalling that the Tau'ri either had a cityship in the Datura System or that they were going to send one there. He wasn't sure which it was as the Asgard Fleet generally didn't track cityships inside Tau'ri territory for the same reason that they didn't track the position of the Tau'ri Fleet, it was no concern of there's – it was only when the Tau'ri ventured beyond the galaxies they controlled or were the dominant power in that the Asgard Fleet tracked there movements.

"Yes," Helena answered. "Our long range sensors have confirmed the presence of a cityship on the third planet of the system. So we will be stopping there for awhile to start repairing the more serious damage and start off loading out wounded. I just hope that the specialist medical equipment that cityships carry is up to the task of dealing with the burns caused by the unknown radiation."

"Indeed," Thor agreed – he'd spoke with a number of Asgard healers on those Asgard ships that had survived the battle about the radiation left behind by the alien weapons. Like their Tau'ri and Jaffa counterparts the Asgard healers were somewhat stumped as to how to deal with the radiation. It was completely different to anything they'd seen before though they had discovered it was somehow linked to dark matter interacting with the antiproton base of the alien plasma balls. With the medical resources they had on hand they'd been able to do little more than relieve pain and slow down the effects of the radiation poisoning. Poisoning that seemed to be causing some sort of cellular breakdown at the molecular level. Hopefully the Alteran database that all Atlantis-class cityships had copies of would be able to provide some answers.

"We must hope that some answers can indeed be found in the Ancients medical database," he said.

"Indeed or a lot of people are going to suffer very painful, lingering deaths," Helena agreed. "We've haven't got enough stasis chambers in the fleet for all the radiation victims on top of those critically injured during the battle."

"Yes I am aware," Thor answered fully conscious of how many Tau'ri, Jaffa and fellow Asgard had already died or ascended in one form or another from radiation burns and other injuries sustained during the battle. Injuries that ranged from electrical burns to decompression related injuries to blunt force trauma from being slammed into bulkheads and decking.

A series of faintly musical, crystalline bleeps sounded from one of the consoles before Helena could reply. "Admiral, Supreme Commander we're crossing into the Datura System," navigation reported. "Normal space reversion in ten seconds."

"Very well," Helena said. Thor for his part put one of his small hands on the back of the command chair to wait for the jump back into normal space. Human and Asgard alike kept there eyes focused on the high resolution screens at the front of the bridge showing the shimmering blue tunnel of hyperspace knowing in seconds it would vanish as if it had never been there at all.

* * *

Space in high orbit of Datura Three warped and distorted as over a massive front it was subjected to tremendous stress from within. Under assault from hundreds of powerful subspace fields the barrier between normal and subspace warped then tore open with a silent roar. Hyperspace window after hyperspace window burst into existence in orbit, swirling vortices of aquamarine light and raw subspace energy.

The first ships to emerge from the gaping rents ripped in space-time were the fleets escort ships – those few that had survived. Tau'ri Windraker-class destroyers and Asgard Jackson-class ships streaked into normal space – many of them sporting battle scars and missing segments of hull from where alien plasma blasts had punched through their shielding to cut into their armour. Following them came the first of the bigger ships, including the disc-like shapes that Jaffa motherships had evolved into from the tetrahedral ships employed by the Goa'uld and the sleek knife-like forms of Tau'ri Agamemnon-class heavy cruisers, following them came the heavier ships still including the Asgard O'Neill's and Tau'ri Charon-class battleships finally the biggest ships emerged from hyperspace including the big disc shape of the Jaffa command mothership _Bra'tac's Wisdom_ and the five kilometre long behemoth that was the Tau'ri Rampart-class super dreadnought _Repulse._

After rapidly decelerating the still intimidating collection of somewhat battered and battle scarred warships slipped gracefully into orbit of Datura Three. Gliding into the high orbital space between the planets uppermost atmosphere and the orbit of the planets moon. As soon as the armada established a stable orbit they powered their sublight engines right down, only providing them with enough power to remain in orbit. Some squadrons of fighters began to launch from the Tau'ri and Jaffa ships forming a combat space patrol around perimeter of the battered fleet even though it was hardly necessary as they were well within the formidable protective envelope of Datura's Spartan-class orbital defence platforms. Still after all they'd been through the Tau'ri and Jaffa commanders stuck to protocol not taking any chances with the fleet's safety whatsoever.

* * *

**Flag Bridge**

**TFS Repulse**

The chime of an incoming hail sounded across the deck of the flag bridge. "Admiral we're being hailed by the cityship Alderaan," communications reported. "Governor Carter wishes to speak with you."

"Put the governor through," Helena instructed already knowing what the good governor would probably want. Alderaan's powerful long range sensors would have detected the fleet approaching sometime ago and been able to determine that the hyperspace vector was projected to terminate at Datura, which would have given Governor Carter and his or her staff a small amount of time to prepare for there arrival. Governor Carter probably wanted to know the fleet's status – though Helena wouldn't be surprised if he or she knew already as Alderaan was bound to have scanned them by now.

"Yes ma'am," the communications officer answered before giving the mental command to the console to open the communications channel.

Immediately a holographic screen coalesced into existence in front of Helena and Thor showing the face and upper torso of a man who looked to be in his early to mid fifties. Though the apparent age was deceptive, given modern medical technology and anti-aging drugs Helena knew that Governor Carter would actually be closer to a hundred than he was to fifty.

"Admiral Hawkins, Supreme Commander Thor welcome to Datura," Governor Carter said. "I'm Governor Richard Carter."

"Hello, governor," Helena answered.

"Greetings Governor Carter," Thor added.

Carter inclined his head in acknowledgement of their greetings. "We scanned your ships just after you came out of hyperspace," he said. "Leia informs me that a number of your ships have suffered considerable damage," _considerable damage, that's an understatement if ever there was one,_ Helena thought as the governor continued. "How can we help you?"

"What we need most are medical supplies and the use of your infirmaries," Helena answered. "There are a great many people in the fleet suffering the effects of poisoning by a radiation form that we've never seen before. We'd like to transfer some of the more serious cases down to your infirmary either for treatment or transfer via Stargate to more advanced facilities elsewhere."

"I anticipated that would be one of your requests. A number of our puddle jumpers have been loaded with medical supplies, they'll be sent up to your ships shortly. Medical personnel are also standing by to receive wounded. I also have a number of engineers and technicians ready to transport up to assist with repairs to damaged systems."

"That would be a big help, Governor Carter," Thor replied. "The engineering and damage control crews even on my people's ships are stretched to the limit in their attempts to isolate or repair damaged systems. However as your people would say it is an uphill battle given the continuing system degradation being caused by the lingering presence of the unknown radiation form."

"Forgive me supreme command but what does the lingering radiation have to do with ongoing system degradation?" Carter asked.

"The alien radiation is attacking the molecular structures of control crystals, control stones and power relays," Helena answered. "Its somehow disrupting them; causing the sub-molecular matrices to fall apart, quite how it is doing that we do not know. Neither do the Asgard – no one in the fleet has ever seen this kind of radiation signature before."

On the holographic screen Governor Carter frowned in confusion and concern. Control crystals and Asgard control stones had always been largely unaffected by radiation in the past, while radiation forms did exist that could muck up power systems and cause overloads he had never heard of a radiation form that could damage control systems. Certainly damage them enough to cause the sub-molecular circuit pathways inside the matrix of the crystals to degrade. It was a worrying development as almost every known technology – with the notable exception of the organic technology of the Wraith – was heavily dependant on the use of control crystals or control stones. Anything that could cause failures in the crystals was… worrying to say the least.

"I see," he said. "If you send us down some of the crystals I'll get some of my scientists to start examining them, see if we can get to the bottom of the mystery."

"Some of my people's scientists have already begun examining the problem," Thor answered. "They are of course willing to work with you on this issue. It is imperative that we get to the bottom of this matter as soon as possible."

"Indeed," Helena agreed. "I'll have some of the compromised crystals sent down on a jumper. I don't want to risk beaming them down."

"A good precaution," Thor replied. "Given how fragile the compromised crystals are it is very likely they would not survive the effects of a transporter beam."

"I'll tell me scientists to expect them," Carter said. "Admiral, Supreme Commander is there anything more that I can do for you?"

"Yes, Governor Carter," Thor said. "With your permission I would like to transport down to Alderaan and use your Stargate. I must return to Orilla to meet with the Asgard High Council as soon as possible."

"Easily done," Carter replied.

Thor nodded his thanks in a subtle, Asgard fashion. "Then with Admiral Hawkins permission I will transport down immediately," he said.

"Of course, Thor," Helena replied gesturing to one of the security marines. "This marine will escort you to a region of the ship not covered by transport inhibitor fields and beam you down to Alderaan."

"Then I will take my leave of you, Admiral Hawkins," Thor answered with another subtle Asgard nod before leaving the flag bridge, accompanied by a marine who in typical Tau'ri fashion shortened his stride to allow the much smaller alien to keep pace with him.

Helena watched Thor leave before turning back to the communications screen where Governor Carter was still waiting patiently. Seeing that her attention was now back on him the governor spoke up.

"Is there anything else that I can help you with, admiral," he asked.

"Not right now, governor," Helena replied. "I believe that everything has been covered."

"Very well then," Carter answered. "If you'll excuse me I will see to the dispatch or the relief units to your ships."

"Of course. And thank you."

"You're welcome, I just wish there was more we could do for you."

"You're doing plenty now, governor."

Carter smiled and nodded before breaking the communications link from his end. The holographic screen evaporated with no fuss at all, literally vanishing into thin air as if it had never been present at all. Helena sighed softly and leaned back in her seat.

"Instruct all hanger bay crews to stand by to receive puddle jumpers from the planet," she ordered. "And advise medical that the medical facilities of Alderaan have been placed at our disposal."

"Yes ma'am," came the response from a number of consoles.

"I'll be in my ready room," Helena said getting up. "Inform me the moment that supplies begin being distributed to the fleet."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

**Alderaan**

**A Few Moments Later**

Supreme Commander Thor blinked his large black eyes as the transporter beam from the _Repulse_ released him. Glancing around Thor noted that he had been dropped right off in the middle of Alderaan's Stargate Operations/Main Control centre – specifically at the foot of the ornate stairs that led up to the mezzanine levels that housed the control room and governors office on one side and a meeting room on the other. He guessed that Governor Carter had ordered that the inhibitor field that normally prevented someone beaming into the cities core tower from outside the city deactivated. It was logical as it would make transporting supplies and injured to and from the cityship that much easier.

Turning in place Thor examined the large room with curiosity, despite having dealt with the Tau'ri for centuries now he had rarely had a chance to go inside a cityship. Not for the first time he was impressed with their skills in mimicking the Ancients technology while at the same time putting their own unique spin on it. The elegant if somewhat Spartan design of the gateroom with its copper and tan coloured walls with inside crystalline lights and vaulted ceiling ending in the hatch to the jumper bay overhead would appeal to both Ancients and Tau'ri alike.

Directly in front of him on the opposite side of the room, back dropped by ornate crystal windows through which the bright light of Datura's star shone, was the Stargate. He noted that it was the same mark of Stargate as those the Ancients had constructed in Pegasus – its presence was not particular surprising. The Tau'ri had been steadily replacing the older clunky mechanical Stargates with the newer type gates over the last century or two – ever since they had learned to make Stargates themselves. Even with their efforts – and providing the Jaffa with the newer model gates to deploy on their worlds – it would be a number of decades yet before the last of the surviving mechanical in this galaxy gates was retired in favour of the Pegasus variant.

"Supreme Commander Thor," a male Tau'ri voice said from above and behind him. Thor turned and looked up to see Governor Carter leaning on the control room railings looking down at him. "We're ready to dial Orilla for you."

"Thank you, Governor Carter," Thor replied. "And thank you for letting me use your Stargate."

"It's no bother, Thor," Carter answered. "If the rumours I've heard are true the Asgard High Council are up in arms about all that has happened to the Fourth Fleet. It is no surprise that you need to return."

"Indeed," Thor said. "Whoever they are the aliens who attacked us have proven themselves to be an enemy of the Asgard, and we will deal with them accordingly."

From where he was standing Richard Carter inwardly shivered. He knew what that meant, the Asgard were almost certain to declare war upon the denizens of the dark matter galaxy. It was no surprise for though they were slow to anger the diminutive, grey skinned aliens were a devastating force when their wrath was aroused – the destruction of so many Asgard and Asgard allied ships and the loss of so many lives Asgard, Tau'ri and Jaffa alike – was something that would awaken the sleeping dragon.

"Do you really believe war is coming, Thor," he asked.

"It is," Thor replied simply – he knew his people would never let the outrage the alien inhabitants of the dark matter galaxy delivered upon them go unchallenged. They had killed a great many Asgard – honour and the warrior's blood of their ancestors would demand they respond accordingly. And he was sure that the Tau'ri and Jaffa leaderships would react the same way.

"Then I'll let you go," Carter answered. "Good luck with the High Council."

"Thank you," Thor replied as the Human disappeared from the balcony into the main part of the control room. Thor turned his attention to the Stargate as it began to dial, he paid close attention to the gate watching as the symbols on the inner ring changed, chasing each other across the rings surface making chevrons light up with blue light. In mere seconds – far quicker than the older gates could have dialled it – the full address for Orilla was entered into the gate and the Stargate – one of the greatest of all the Ancients creations – surged into life. The unstable vortex of an activating gate bursting halfway across the gaterooms length before collapsing back into the softly rippling surface of the wormholes event horizon.

Calmly and with the normal oddly fluid gait of the Asgard Thor walked across the floor of the gateroom until he was right up to the shimmering silver-blue surface of the wormhole. He took one last look around before stepping through, the molecules instantly being disassembled by the gate and hurled the millions of light years through subspace to Orilla. And a meeting with the Asgard High Council – a meeting that for the first time in nearly six hundred years would lead the Asgard to war.


	22. Chapter 21

_**Chapter Twenty-One**_

**Puddle Jumper**

**Babylon Five, Epsilon Eridani System**

**That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie quietly sighed in relief as the puddle jumper cleared Babylon Five's docking bay and began its relatively short journey back to the _Jutland_. The meeting with the Advisory Council and the League of Non-Aligned Worlds had been hard work which had stressed his patience to their considerable limits. The paranoia of the various alien ambassadors – especially Ambassador Nedron – had been particularly tiresome and annoying if not particularly surprising. The ambassadors after all had obviously had no idea that other races of Humans existed beyond the Humans of the Earth Alliance – with the obvious exception of the Vorlons that was.

And that was another puzzle.

The way the Vorlons had behaved towards them, and the fact that they'd been addressed in Ancient, confirmed that the Ancients had been to this universe in the past, been here and interacted with races like the Vorlons. Yet as far as he knew there were no mentions of interdimensional travel in the Ancient Database beyond the Quantum Mirror technology which as interdimensional technology went somewhat limited, certainly it didn't allow interaction beyond the individual one-on-one level. The way the Vorlons were behaving though and what they'd said suggested though that the interaction between Vorlon and Ancient had been far, far larger than just a simple meeting of individuals.

_I suppose its possible that we haven't come across records of the technology yet along with any details of meetings with the Vorlons,_ he thought, knowing that despite having had access to the complete database of the Ancients and having learned enough to more or less mimic the Ancients technology – with their own little twists to it of course, there was still so much of the database that still remained unexplored – its immense reservoir of knowledge untapped by thirsty Tau'ri minds. Like the Asgard they had only barely scratched the surface of what the Ancients had known, though the knowledge seemed more comprehensible to their minds than to those of the Asgard which was mostly due to the fact that at the end of the day the Ancients had been Humans – really advanced both in biology and technology but Humans nevertheless – their motives and thought processes far easier for other Humans to understand than for the distinctly alien Asgard. Still the database was vast and not very user friendly, which was one of the reasons why they'd developed A.I systems like Arwen, to make getting information out of the virtual universe of data that little bit easier.

Making a mental note Aaron decided to recommend that Arwen go through Rivendell's copy of the Ancient Database, searching for references to interdimensional technology and the Vorlons. After all if the Ancients really had been to this universe then the information would be in the database somewhere – it was just a question of finding it. _Of course it's also possible that the Ancients the Vorlons speak of were not the Ancients that we know,_ he thought, _it's possible that like in our own reality they evolved here, just like Humans have evolved on this universes version of Earth. But if that's the case there should be some sign left of them, especially as the Ancients are galactic litterbugs on a huge scale._

Aaron was just mulling that possibility over in his mind when the pilots console emitted a crystalline sounding bleep. Pushing aside his thoughts he looked over at Lieutenant Sterns from where he sat in the co-pilots seat.

"What is it," he asked.

"Sensor relay from the _Jutland,_ sir," Sterns replied frowning slightly as the information filtered through his mind thanks to the consoles neural interface. "Sensors are picking up increasing energy emissions from the jump gate, it looks like a ship is about to come through, and from the size of the approaching subspace displacement a big one."

Aaron frowned slightly in concern. Though the scientists back in Rivendell didn't understand much about the actual mechanics of the deep subspace layer that the people of this universe used for their slow, inefficient means of interstellar travel they had discovered that ships travelling through it caused a displacement wave in the subspace ether in the same way that aircraft and submarines created a slipstream as they moved through their respective mediums. They'd also discovered that the displacement wave's size and amplitude was directly proportional to the mass of the ship or ships moving through the ether. Once they'd come to that realisation it had been relatively easy to adjust their sensors to track the displacement wave, it wasn't perfect of course but it meant that it would be much harder for anyone from this universe with hostile intentions to sneak up on them.

"Put it up on the HUD," he instructed.

"Yes sir," Sterns replied the holographic heads up display screen blinking into existence before them even as the words left his mouth. The screen was split into a series of windows that largest showing an image of the diamond shaped formation of multi-kilometre long struts that made up the jump gate taken by _Jutland's_ external optical sensors, the other screens showed different spectral views of the gate along with a graph showing the increasing energy emissions. Lines of characters in the familiar language of the Ancients – they'd sort of adopted the Ancients written language as their own as it conveyed scientific and higher mathematical concepts far more efficiently than English had – scrolled down the sides of the screen relaying the analysis of the _Jutland's_ sensor readings.

As Aaron watched the large central screen massive bursts of energy discharged down the jump gate struts to the narrow end of the cone they formed before discharging together in a massive burst of pyrotechnic light. The sheer brute force of the discharging energy and the exotic particles generated by the mineral in the gate tearing a hole in the fabric of subspace allowing a glowing blue funnel-like vortex to open between normal space-time and what everyone around her referred to – erroneously as few if any of the races they'd so far encountered in this universe seemed to have any understanding of subspace – as hyperspace. For a moment more nothing happened then three ships emerged from the vortex in rapid succession. Aaron studied them – and the information that the _Jutland's_ passive scanners revealed about them – in curiosity.

It was immediately obvious that all three ships were warships, there armoured hulls that varied in thickness between six and ten metres and there large turreted weapons arrays made that perfectly obvious. Though for the size of the ships they seemed to be under gunned by not just Tau'ri standards but by the standards of practically everyone else in the universe they'd come from. The two smaller warships were each just over a thousand metres long yet according to the passive scanner readouts they possessed a mere twelve guns and two launchers for missile weapons, which was even less weapons than what was carried on a Windraker-class destroyer. The bigger ship in the middle wasn't that much different. It was nearly half again the _Jutland's_ length – though a third of its length was taken up by two rotating sections, presumably to simulate gravity for the crew – but again carried surprisingly few weapons just two large missile batteries and thirty guns of various sizes and types. He would have expected that a ship that size would have far more firepower than that.

Another thing that jumped out at Aaron about the three warships was that they were ugly as sin, especially the big one. Even the Prometheus and Daedalus class starships his people had built when they first ventured into star travel all those centuries ago had been more elegant than these things. Each looked to be little more than a series of flying rectangular or oblong bricks with engines and weapons systems attached; there was no elegance, no pride in the design as there were in modern Tau'ri ships even warships – only a pure, lethal functionality. _I wonder who those ships belong to,_ he thought though he had his suspicions as he could see a number of design commonalities between the three warships and the _Cortez_.

"Lieutenant send a message to the _Jutland,_" he instructed. "Have them scan the warships I want to know who they are and if there is any sign of activity in their weapons or defensive systems. Have them feed the results to us."

"Yes sir," Sterns replied as he continued manipulating the crystalline controls of his console as the puddle jumper drew ever closer to the Agamemnon-class cruiser, while with another part of his mind he used the neural interface to relay the scan command to the _Jutland's_ bridge. Aaron for his part leaned back in his seat and waited for the results to appear on the HUD.

* * *

**EAS Agamemnon**

**A Few Moments Earlier**

Former Earth Alliance president Elizabeth Levy stood besides Captain Sheridan's command chair on the _Agamemnon's_ bridge as the powerful Omega-class destroyer and her escorting cruisers slipped out of hyperspace into Babylon Five control space. Just over forty thousand kilometres ahead of them the great O'Neill-class space station floated serenely in orbit of Epsilon Three, looking powerful and unassailable as it sat there. Even from this distance the deep space habitat that was the diplomatic hub of known space was massive and it was easy to appreciate it as the engineering marvel that it was.

Seeing Babylon Five on the bridge monitors, fulfilling the function for which the Babylon Project had been conceived, felt to Elizabeth Levy like a dream come true. In the hard, immediate aftermath of the Earth-Minbari War she'd had to fight long and hard with the senate to get funding for the project. By the time she'd left the presidential office in Earth Dome for the last time the project had been in serious trouble with Babylon's One and Two destroyed by accidents or sabotage by terrorist groups opposed to the idea of the diplomatic stations. She'd never been happier than to find out that Luis had carried on with her work, despite the political opposition from some groups in the senate, and seen the project through to completion. _I never thought I would actually get to see this place in person,_ she thought looking at the images of the station, _but now thanks to the Tau'ri and ironically Clark's domination of the diplomatic service, I am here and I can't wait to go aboard._

At that moment the Tau'ri cruiser that had been known to be here appeared from behind Epsilon Three, clearly it was orbiting the planet. Even from this distance the knife-like silhouette of the alien – if that was the correct word to use – warship was unmistakeable, though as with the _Cortez_ the _Agamemnon's_ sensors were unable to get more than a vague silhouette of the ship and the external optics were having difficulty getting a clear image of the warship; its outlines rendered an indistinct blur by both the distance and whatever stealth technology the Tau'ri possessed, stealth technology that some in Earth Force Command believed to be superior to the system operated by Minbari warships.

The sight of the Tau'ri warship brought Elizabeth's thoughts back to her mission to establish full diplomatic relations with them. The fact that the Tau'ri were another race of Humans would make her task both that little bit easier, and that bit more difficult. Easier because there would be potentially fewer hurdles to overcome with regards to culture and outlook, more difficult because a lot of the generals at Earth Force Command as well as the Earth First movements headed up by Vice President Clark would be pushing for the Tau'ri to share the secrets of their technology with the Earth Alliance. Technology that was obviously far superior to their own, technology that she knew some individuals would believe to be Earth's by right of blood. _Which is a totally ridiculous and arrogant assumption to make,_ she thought, _the fact that the Tau'ri are another race of Humans is irrelevant. To us they will be aliens and vice versa, we will have to earn each others trust before we even think about discussing technological transfer. We certainly can't demand that the Tau'ri share technology with us, at the most we can ask and not go fusion if they refuse._

The bleep of an incoming transmission brought Elizabeth out of her thoughts as the young lieutenant at the communications station spoke up. "Captain we're being hailed by Babylon Five command and control," the officer reported across the bridge to where Captain Sheridan sat in the middle of the _Agamemnon's_ command centre.

"Put them through," Sheridan replied, keeping his attention on the front screen and watched as the image changed from a tactical overview of the system and external video feeds to first the stellar comm. logo then to the face and torso of a youngish woman that looked vaguely familiar from somewhere, though for the life of him he couldn't immediately remember where he had seen her face before.

"…repeating this is Babylon Control to incoming Earth Force vessels," Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova was saying, "identify yourselves and state you intentions."

Sheridan started to open his mouth to respond when abruptly the hidden speakers crackled and hissed with white noise interference, static washed across the screen before the transmission died altogether. All around the bridge computer monitors and status displays began flickering as did the overhead lights.

"What the hell is going on," he demanded looking around in confusion and concern, inwardly wondering what gremlin had gotten into the _Agamemnon's_ systems and was making the ship go haywire.

"Were being heavily scanned by the Tau'ri vessel, sir," the officer at sensor control responded as her computer screen rippled with distortions and threatened to blink out entirely. "Unknown scanner type, the electromagnetic interference is tremendous I've never seen levels this high even from Minbari scanners. It's disrupting systems all over the ship."

"The same thing happened to the _Cortez_ when they were scanned by the Tau'ri," Commander James pointed out from the first officer station, recalling the intelligence briefings all the senior staff had seen on the Tau'ri. Sheridan nodded in agreement as abruptly all the consoles and lights stabilised.

"Sensor scans have stopped sir," sensors reported. "Sir the _Pandora's_ weapons systems just went active, their opening gun ports. There targeting systems have just gone active, I think there trying to target the Tau'ri ship."

Sheridan's eyes widened in alarm and horror, recognising that unless he did something now history could possibly repeat itself as Captain Hall appeared to be behaving in the same fashion as Captain Jankowski had behaved when the _Prometheus_ encountered the Minbari twelve years ago. And everyone knew how that had turned out, the last thing they needed was for something like the Minbari War to happen again, especially with someone who was apparently even more powerful than the boneheads had ever been.

"What the hell does Hall think he's playing at," he snapped. "Is he trying to start a war with the Tau'ri? Communications get me the _Pandora_ right now."

"Yes sir," Lieutenant Hayes replied from communications and started to carry out his captains orders when his earpiece came alive with a communication between Babylon Five and the offending heavy cruiser. A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he heard an annoyed Russian accented female voice talking to Captain Hall. "Sir I'm monitoring a transmission from Babylon Five Command and Control to the _Pandora_. A Lieutenant Commander Susan Ivanova is telling Captain Hall to stand down his weapons."

"Put it on speakers," Sheridan ordered faintly smiling as he recalled the name Susan Ivanova, she'd served under him as a young ensign at the transfer point off Io just after the war ended, even though she didn't look like much Ivanova had the spirit of the Russian bear inside her and woe befall anyone who annoyed her.

"Yes sir," Hayes replied pressing one of his controls, overhead the speakers crackled and then a clipped female voice could be heard.

"…scanned you, there sensors did the same to us when the _Jutland_ arrived," Ivanova was saying.

"They disrupted systems all over my ship, lieutenant commander," Hall's voice shot back. "Burn outs have caused damage in several compartments across four decks. That counts as an act of aggression in my book."

"I don't particularly care about your book, sir," Ivanova replied. "The fact is that the Tau'ri did not intend any aggression, they are here under a flag of diplomatic immunity. If you fire on them you will almost certainly start another war."

"That is not my concern, they damaged my ship in an act of aggression now they must face the consequences," Hall answered.

John Sheridan sighed softly and touched one of the comm. controls on the side of his chair; it was time to put a stop to this before it went any further. "Fleet Command to _Pandora_," he said. "We've monitored your transmission stand down Captain Hall, and that is a direct order."

"But the damage…" Hall started to protest.

"Is inadvertent," Sheridan snapped back. "And you are overreacting, I will not let you use an innocent if possibly overpowered scan as a reason to start a war, especially with a civilisation that appears to be even more powerful than the Minbari. Stand down or I will have you removed from your command."

For a long second there was silence and John began to worry that Hall might actually disobey him, convinced that the political connections he had in Earth Gov would protect him from Earth Force Commands wrath at defiance of a superior officer. But finally Hall responded. "Very well I will power down weapons," Hall answered, "but on your head be in Sheridan if we are attacked. And Sheridan I will remember this, Hall out."

Sheridan sighed and rolled his eyes at the implied threat in the last part, knowing it was little more than an idle threat. While Trevor Hall did have some political connections they were not so powerful that they could strip another officer of rank or command because he stood up to the arrogant, loose cannon that Hall was.

"Status," he ordered.

"The _Pandora_ has closed her gun ports," sensors reported. "Tracking systems have been deactivated and weapons systems are powering down."

"Thank god for that," Elizabeth said from where she'd been listening to the drama quietly and with real concern. From the moment the _Pandora_ had powered up her weapons systems she'd feared that history was about to repeat itself, only with Hall in the role of Captain Jankowski and the _Jutland_ in the place of the Minbari leaders war cruiser; which would have been a disaster of galactic proportions. Especially if it led to war between Earth and the Tau'ri – a war they'd have no chance of winning, though the shoot first ask questions later attitude being displayed by Hall was not particularly surprising. It was what she expected of people with the political beliefs she knew Hall to have.

"Don't worry about Hall to much, captain," she continued. "Hall may have some powerful friends in Earth Gov but then so do I, I won't let him do anything when you were only looking out for the best interests of the Earth Alliance. If they try to use this incident against you, I will stop them."

"Thank you, ambassador," Sheridan replied before turning his attention to Lieutenant Hayes. "Lieutenant kindly hail Babylon Five again, barring anymore Tau'ri scans we should get a chance to talk this time."

"Aye sir," Hayes answered a smile in his voice and on his face as his fingers danced across the illuminated keys of his console, accessing one of the _Agamemnon's_ communications arrays and sending a tachyon-enhanced digital radio signal to the space station. Immediately lights appeared on his console indicating a response. "Hail acknowledged, response coming in," he said routing the signal to the main screens at the front of the bridge.

Immediately the front screens once again changed and brought in a view of Babylon Fives command centre. This time however it wasn't Lieutenant Commander Ivanova who was on the other end of the comm. link, instead it was Commander Sinclair himself his features recognisable both from ISN and the many articles in Universe Today and other newspapers or magazines about the man.

"Commander Sinclair," Sheridan said, resisting the impulse to comment that Sinclair looked better than the last time he'd seen him during riots on the troublesome Mars colony a few years ago. "It's good to see you again, sorry for dropping in on you like this."

"That's quite alright, Sheridan. It's good to see you again to," Sinclair replied with a faint smile, which swiftly morphed into a scowl. "Though did you have to bring a trigger happy idiot like Hall with you?"

"That wasn't my doing, blame some of the generals in Earth Force Command," Sheridan replied. "I would have been quite happy if we'd stuck to the original plan and not have any escorts with us."

"I can guess which ones sent them," Sinclair answered rolling his eyes in annoyance before turning serious. "So tell me, captain why you are here?"

"I'm afraid that's my fault, commander," Elizabeth said stepping forward into range of the optical pickups, automatically the pickups focused on her instead of Sheridan, responding to the sound of her voice. Sinclair's eyes widened slightly as he recognised her.

"Madam President," he said. "This is a surprise."

Elizabeth smiled slightly at the sound of her old title it had been a long time since anyone had last called her that. "Its ambassador now, commander," she replied.

"Of course, sorry," Sinclair answered as a look of understanding appeared in his eyes. "You're here because of the Tau'ri. I was not informed that you would be coming here."

"Someone probably got there wires crossed somewhere back in Earth Gov," Elizabeth replied, though she could guess what had really happened and it had Vice President Clark's grubby fingerprints all over it. "But yes you are correct. I am here because of the Tau'ri. After you informed Earth Force Command that the Vorlons had confirmed they were coming here they decided to change my mission protocol a bit so I meet with the Tau'ri here." Sinclair raised an eyebrow and muttered something under his breath that was probably about someone in Earth Force Command showing brains for once, though Elizabeth couldn't be sure as he was speaking to quietly for the audio pickups and lip reading had never really been one of her skills.

"I see," Sinclair said speaking normally. "I should inform you that a formal first contact meeting between the Tau'ri, the Advisory Council and the League of Non-aligned Worlds took place here a short time ago."

"I guessed as much," Elizabeth replied knowing from the Earth Force communication that had led to them diverting here that it was likely that Sinclair would be the one to handle to initial first contact meeting with the Tau'ri; the fact that the other races had been intimately involved was a good sign. Assuming the meeting had gone well of course. "What happened?"

"The meeting went as well as can be expected," Sinclair answered. "Some of the ambassadors were their usual contentious, obstinate selves even with the Vorlons behaving in a most uncharacteristic fashion where the Tau'ri are concerned."

"What do you mean?"

"They appear to be very open towards the Tau'ri and they and the Tau'ri representatives kept speaking to each other in an alien language that we couldn't understand. Some of the words sound like high Latin but the meaning eluded us, though it probably means that the language we know as Latin is a derivative of whatever language the Tau'ri speak especially as they are apparently behind the legend of Atlantis."

"Sounds like you had an interesting council session today, commander," Elizabeth said with a smile.

On screen Sinclair nodded. "And that's not the half of it," he answered.

"Really, I look forward to reading your report on the contact," Elizabeth replied, "though I would prefer to meet with you face to face to discuss this issue further. If it alright with you I would like to transfer myself and my entourage over to Babylon Five."

"Of course, ambassador," Sinclair replied. "I will have the appropriate quarters prepared for you and the rest of your entourage. I will contact you when we are ready to receive you."

"That is acceptable. In the meantime please send over a copy of your report as soon as it is completed."

Sinclair nodded. "As you wish," he said. "Will that be all, ambassador?"

"For now, commander," Elizabeth replied before stepping back out of range of the optical pickups – which promptly immediately turned to their default focus on where Captain Sheridan sat in his command chair at the centre of the bridge.

"Commander," Sheridan said addressing Sinclair again. "I would appreciate it if you would send us an orbital vector we could be here for awhile."

A faint scowl appeared on Sinclair's features at his words and Sheridan guessed that Sinclair was not happy with the idea of three Earth warships sticking around the orbital space of his station, when warships weren't supposed to be here at all according to the Babylon Charter. He supposed he couldn't blame Sinclair, while Babylon Five wasn't defenceless the stations limited defensive grid was not really designed to take on warships should they have hostile intentions. _Though with luck there won't be a major free for all outside the station this time, _he thought recalling the reports he'd read of the battle between the EAS _Hyperion_, Babylon Five and the unknown but powerful alien warship commanded by a Commander Takarn that had raged here a month or so ago when the Great Machine had been discovered; a battle that had caused considerable damage both the Babylon Five and the _Hyperion _and claimed dozens of lives_. _

After a moment more Sinclair looked aside and nodded to someone who was not in line with the optical pickup. "It's coming over to you now, captain," he said just as one of the many consoles around the bridge gave a soft bleep, the console operator turned slightly and nodded at Sheridan confirming that there vector into the complex orbital patterns that ships visiting Babylon Five maintained had been received.

"Vector received," Sheridan confirmed to Sinclair. "With your permission, commander I would like to have my first officer draw up a shore leave schedule for my crews, most of us have been in space for quite sometime and could do with a change of scenery."

"Not a problem," Sinclair answered with a faint smile of understanding that only a long term spacer got, being built for war first and everything else a distant second the interior of Earth Force vessels was very dim and utilitarian – there were a bare minimum of windows present, if there were any at all, so as to present as few weaknesses in the warships armoured shell as possible – consequently they were depressing places and it was very easy to get the psychological condition that had in historic times been referred to as cabin fever. "I'll have Lieutenant Commander Ivanova and Mr Garibaldi coordinate with your first officer," he continued.

"I'll have Commander James contact them shortly after our orbit is secure," Sheridan said with a faint smile. He hoped he'd get a chance to go aboard Babylon Five himself sometime on this mission, though he loved his ship to pieces it would be nice to disembark her for a little while – even if he would be exchanging one flying tin can for another. _The only downside of going aboard Babylon Five is I might bump into a few Minbari,_ he thought, though he'd dealt with a handful of Minbari since the war ended it was never an easy experience considering how notorious he was in Minbari circles, _hopefully though it won't be the warrior caste, as the other castes are at least polite to me even though they don't particularly like me. You would think that after twelve years the warrior caste would get over the fact that I blew up one of their flagship cruisers during the war._

"I will tell them to expect the call," Sinclair replied, the sound of his voice bringing John Sheridan out of his thoughts about the Minbari and the battle with the _Black Star_ that had made him so notorious – especially among the ranks of the Minbari warrior caste. "Now if that is all, captain I have duties that require my attention."

"Then I'll let you go, _Agamemnon _out," Sheridan answered smiling back before pressing one of his comm. controls again, this time severing the communications link with Babylon Five. "Navigation transmit the orbital vector to the other ships then take us to our designated position," he ordered.

"Aye sir," navigation answered already carrying out the instructions.

"If you'll excuse me, captain I would like to return to my quarters," Elizabeth said making Sheridan jump slightly as he'd almost forgotten she was there. "I would appreciate it if you would have the rest of the delegation join me. We have some work to do."

"Of course, ambassador," Sheridan replied inwardly wincing, some of the delegation that had accompanied Elizabeth Levy were difficult to deal with, though remarkably Harriman Gray – the telepath assigned to the mission by the Psi Corps – had been the least trouble of all of them. Indeed he'd often seen the telepath chatting with the Starfury pilots as he gathered that Gray was a pilot and had wanted to join Earth Force until his telepathic abilities manifested when he was seventeen. Having been a late boomer as far as his powerful telepathic abilities were concerned Gray was a lot easier to deal with than some other members of the Psi Corps – lacking many of the hang ups that seemed to come as standard issue with Corps members.

Elizabeth smiled softly back at the captain before quietly leaving the bridge. Sheridan watched her go before turning his own attention to the tasks before him. Though the voyage here was over there was still a lot of work for him to do.

"Commander James you have the conn," he said. "I'll be in my office, trying to make a dent in my paperwork."

"Yes sir," James answered as Sheridan stood up from the command chair and left the bridge himself, heading to his office just behind the bridge and the virtual mountain of paperwork waiting for him there. It would do no good to ignore it – no matter how much he wished he could dump the stuff out the airlock or throw it into the plasma stream of one of the _Agamemnon's_ mighty fusion reactors – there would always be more of it to taunt him.

Arriving at his office, he made his way to his desk and sat down before picking up the first report that he needed to read. Hopefully he would get all this done in a few hours and get a chance to be one of the first of the crew to go aboard Babylon Five. Though somehow he doubted it, for no matter how much he finished there was always more.

* * *

**Bridge**

**TFS Jutland**

**That Same Time**

Captain Aaron McKenzie – still clad in his dress uniform – sat in silence in his command chair, mentally mulling over everything that had just transpired. He'd had himself beamed off the puddle jumper straight here to the bridge when one of the newly arrived Earth warships powered up its weapons systems and began attempting to lock onto the _Jutland_ for firing. In response he'd ordered their shields to be raised and for energy to be transferred to the weapons systems – ready to retaliate in kind if they were fired upon. All the while lamenting the loss of life that was about to occur as their scanners had revealed that the alloy that the Earth warships were made out of was not strong enough to withstand a direct hit by any of their main energy weapon armament – let alone a drone salvo.

Thankfully it hadn't come down to any shooting as they'd monitored a sudden flurry of encrypted tachyon beam enhanced communications between Babylon Five, the biggest warship and the offending cruiser. Though he had no idea what was said – they hadn't been able to break the signal encryption – the results had been obvious, with the Earth cruiser powering down its weapons and deactivating its targeting mechanisms. In response he'd had the shields lowered and weapons grid deactivated, but now he wanted answers. Wanted to know what the hell the Earth Force captain had thought he was playing at.

"Communications hail Babylon Five," he ordered at last.

"Aye sir," communications acknowledged as the officers fingers danced across the controls, electing to manually open the comm. link as opposed to simply giving the command through the neural interface system. Aaron didn't particularly mind – when not in combat the extent to which you used the neural interface was more down to personal preference than anything else save where certain systems were concerned – like helm control and navigation. A holographic screen blinked into existence in front of him showing the face and torso of Commander Sinclair, who looked very pensive. Obviously knowing what this call was going to be about.

"Commander Sinclair," Aaron said his voice dangerously calm. "Would you mind telling me what the commander of that warship thought he was playing at? We came here to establish peaceful relations not be menaced by a trigger happy captain looking to start a war."

"I apologise for Captain Hall's actions, captain," Sinclair answered. "They were out of line."

"Apologies are not enough, commander. I want some answers," Aaron replied.

"I understand. Are you aware that your scanners cause a form of EMP?"

Aaron frowned slightly in confusion. "I am aware that there is some electromagnetic interference as a secondary effect of the scan frequencies," he said. "It's a problem that most subspace sensors have and one we have never been able to eliminate entirely, but it's never been a problem before."

"Unfortunately it is for our ships," Sinclair answered. "The EMP from your scanners is so strong that it overwhelms the shielding on some of our systems causing overloads and burnouts. That's what happened to the _Pandora_, a number of systems onboard were overloaded and burned out. Which lead to Captain Hall assuming that you were attacking them."

"I see. That explains this Captain Hall's actions though it does not justify them."

"No it does not, the issue has been dealt with and the matter will be reported to Earth Force Command so that appropriate disciplinary actions can be taken."

"I hope so," Aaron replied before frowning. "Though I am surprised that your military leadership would allow someone who is obviously so trigger happy to command one of your warships, force should be used only as a very last resort. Not threatened to be unleashed at the slightest perceived provocation. Captain Hall should be made aware that no aggression was meant, had that been our intention he and his ship would now be a cloud of incandescent plasma dispersing in the stellar winds."

Sinclair winced slightly at his words. "It's a long and complicated story," he answered. "Too much so to go into right now. But I assure you Hall will not bother you again."

"For his sake I hope he doesn't, commander," Aaron answered. "This time I took no direct, offensive action to protect my ship. Next time I will not be so merciful."

"There won't be a next time."

"See that there isn't, commander. For all our sakes," Aaron said before putting a hand on one of the command chairs neural interface pads and giving a command to the datastream that promptly unfolded at the back of his mind. The holographic screen vanished with the minimal amount of fuss, no more than what a popping soap bubble made, as the communications channel with Babylon Five was closed down.

Aaron sighed softly as the screen vanished and he withdrew his hand from the interface pad. _First arrogant, obstinate alien ambassadors and now a trigger happy Earth Force captain ready to try and shoot holes in my ship,_ he thought, _what else am I going to have to deal with today?_

"Tactical keep an eye on Earth Force ships," he ordered. "If any of them power up there weapons and attempt to target us again raise our shields and inform me immediately."

"Aye sir."

"Communications."

"Sir?"

"Establish an encrypted subspace communication link to Rivendell and the _Achilles_," Aaron ordered, "advise them that I need to speak with both Governor Shepherd and Admiral Robyns at the earliest opportunity, but tell them not to wake them up. Its not so urgent that it cannot wait until morning."

"Aye sir."

"In the meantime I'll be in my quarters," Aaron said getting up from his command chair and looking around the bridge for the officer of the watch who'd look after the place while he and his first officer were off duty. "Lieutenant Castellan you have the bridge."

"Yes sir," Castellan answered before Aaron turned and left the bridge to return to his quarters where he would be able to slip out of his dress uniform into something more comfortable. Then he would be able to relax, possibly even meditate for a bit and let the stresses of the day fade away.


	23. Chapter 22

**_Chapter Twenty-Two_**

**City of Avalon**

**Earth, Tau'ri Federation**

**Sometime Later**

Bright afternoon sunlight shone from a clear blue summer sky down upon the great artificial archipelago upon which Avalon stood. Around the edges of the cities engineered polyp islands the Atlantic Oceans waves gently broke as they did all day, everyday for all three hundred and sixty-four days of Earth's year. Throughout the vast metropolis millions of sentient beings human and alien went about there daily lives, oblivious to events taking place in the centre of the city – events that would have an effect upon all of their lives.

The setting for those events was the government complex at the heart of Avalon, specifically the building that housed the Tau'ri Senate. Aloof from the rest of the gleaming high-tech metropolis that was the Tau'ri Federations capital the Senate complex formed its own small city where it stood on an island in the centre of a massive freshwater lake that dominated the largest of the megalithic cities parks.

A thick ring of buildings surrounded the Senate building itself, housing offices for the thousands of Senators and the virtual armies of aides. Along with them were all the things that normally came with government, offices for civil servants and other bureaucrats, offices for media outlets and for the many ambassadors of various governments stretching across the length and breadth of the four galaxies known to – or in which – the Tau'ri Federation had influence. Inside the ring of office buildings, apartments and towers stood the Senate building itself. From a distance, it could be mistaken for a sporting arena and not a place of government as it was a squat rounded structure topped with a gleaming crystalline dome that could be transparent or opaque as the situation demanded. Right now, the dome was opaque as though it was reflecting the feelings of its builders at the matters that were to be discussed inside its cavernous interior.

* * *

President Aaron Harker sat silent in his chair at the centre of the crescent shaped cabinet table as the assembled Senators viewed the recordings of the battle between the Fourth Fleet and the unknown aliens transmitted to them sometime earlier. Uncharacteristically the great auditorium that was the meeting place of the Tau'ri Federation Senate was silent, as though the whole world was holding its breath, as the Senators observed the reason why they had all been summoned into emergency session at such short notice. He knew the silence would not last, that soon enough the arguments would begin, so he luxuriated in it while it continued.

Not for the first time he glanced around at the cavernous chamber that looked more like the interior of a football stadium or other major sports venue than a place of government. The Senators sat on a series of tiered stands around three of the walls, the forth wall was taken up by two platforms. On the top small platform sat the senate Speaker – on the platform immediately below it was the main table. It was here that Aaron sat with his political cabinet colleagues, in full view of the rest of the chamber. Below them was the floor of the chamber into whose polished surface was set the great seal of the Tau'ri Federation. Spaced around the edges were smaller seats or benches where various dignitaries from the other powers in the known galaxies sat or did whatever there particular species did that was like sitting. Among them were Odin of the Asgard, Master Ta'ken of the Jaffa, Lya of the Nox, Metan of the Aschen and D'tor'an of the Reetou. D'tor'an wearing a device that made the vaguely insectoid alien visible in there phase as the natural sate of the Reetou was a hundred and eighty degrees out of visual phase with Humans and most other sentient species. Without technological assistance, the highly intelligent, technologically advanced Reetou could not be detected, unless you were a Tok'ra as the symbiotes were sensitive to an aura that the Reetou gave off; an aura that would let them know that a Reetou was in the room even if they could not physically see it through their host's eyes.

To distract himself from the ominous silence Aaron carefully looked at the various ambassadors, trying to gage there reactions to what they were seeing. He already knew Odin's reaction, knew that despite the exterior of dignified serenity, the Asgard ambassador – indeed the entire Asgard race – was seething with rage over what had transpired it what was being called the Battle of the Void. Aaron knew that no matter what happened here today the Asgard race sure to declare war and unleash the immense power of their fleet upon the unknown alien hostiles. Aliens who had done something that no race in the known universe with an ounce of sense and self-preservation ever dared to do, even the most ruthless of the long dead and gone Goa'uld System Lords had had more sense than to do what the dark matter galaxy aliens had done.

And that something was to make the Asgard angry, very angry.

_That is really going to set the cat among the pigeons,_ Aaron thought knowing how a declaration of war by the Asgard would go down. Despite his own fury, Aaron could not help but feel a twinge of sympathy for the dark matter galaxy aliens – whoever or whatever they were. They probably had no idea of the giant that they'd gone and woken up, they probably had no way of knowing that the Asgard were one of the most advanced and powerful races in the known universe. And had no way of knowing how devastating the Asgards wrath could be. Especially as Asgard anger was not like the fiery anger of Tau'ri or Jaffa, it was in fact far more terrifying because it was so cold and merciless in its silent, deadly efficiency. Even the mere thought of what the Asgard could and probably would do to the aliens made Aaron inwardly shiver and be grateful that the Asgard were on his people's side.

Pushing aside his thoughts Aaron Harker continued to wait and study those around him, and noticed that Lya was nearly in tears at the loss of life she was witnessing. He felt his heart go out to her, he knew how much the Nox valued life, sentient or otherwise and how pacifistic they were. To see such wholesale death by violence was bound to be hard for Lya, even harder than it was for anyone else to see. Yet as he looked closer at the willowy alien, he saw that there was something else to her reaction than grief at such death – though that was definitely the biggest factor – something that he could not put his finger on.

He did not get much time to dwell on it though as at that moment the recording of the battle of the void ended and the holographic screens evaporated. For a pregnant moment out of time silence continued to reign in the Senate chamber, before it was suddenly filled with nose with all the Senators talking at once.

"Order, order," the Senate Speaker shouted banging a gavel on the arm of his chair, microphones and hidden Speakers amplifying the banging sound so it echoed around the chamber and everyone went quiet. "What we have seen is shocking and disturbing but I will not allow this chamber to turn into a circus. This issue will be discussed in a calm and orderly fashion. This chair currently recognises President Aaron Harker."

"Thank you, Mister Speaker," Aaron said his own voice echoing in the chamber as omni-directional microphones did there job. "What we have just seen took place just over three weeks ago. I have spoken with Admiral Brackett and he confirms that attempts were made to extend peaceful overtures to the unknowns, but that those overtures were returned first with a powerful and unknown type of telepathic attack, then with weapons fire."

"How can we be sure of that," Senator Gilbert Knowles, leader of the coalition of Senators perennially arguing for cuts in defence spending and fleet number reduction asked. "How can we be sure that this is not a fabrication on behalf of the military to justify an increase in spending?"

"It is no fabrication, Senator Knowles," Odin answered before Aaron could. "Supreme Commander Thor was leading our portion of the joint fleet. He has confirmed to the Asgard High Council that attempts at peaceful contact were made only to be answered with unprovoked aggression."

"With all due respect ambassador that means nothing," Knowles replied. "It is possible that the mere presence of the fleet could have been perceived as an overwhelming threat to be neutralised regardless of its intentions. What I am curious about is why this august body was not informed about the deployment of such a large force of warships? One could conclude that there are members here and in the military who are looking to start a fight."

"The Senate has no authority over fleet movements as you are well aware, Senator Knowles," Senator Anna Weber answered. "But if you'd bothered to read the minutes from the defence subcommittee meeting last month you would have learned that the fleet was being dispatched to investigate the disappearance of the cityship Rivendell and the ships dispatched to escort and support her during her colonisation mission."

"A noble goal but one that should not have been carried out by such a large fleet," Knowles shot back. "A smaller force should have been sent not a full blown allied battle fleet. As I've said, the mere presence of such a large fleet of heavily armed capital warships could have been perceived as a threat, possibly even a prelude to an invasion and thus a threat to be neutralised immediately. A smaller force of warships – say a standard task force or carrier battle group would have been better suited to the task. If a smaller force had been dispatched then in all probability the battle we have just witnessed would not have taken place, and thousands of sentient beings would not have ended there journeys of this plane of existence so prematurely."

"It would not have made any difference no matter how many of your warships were sent, Senator Knowles, the result would have been the same," Lya, answered her voice sad and sombre but strangely determined as she looked up at the Senate Speaker. "Mister Speaker might I be permitted to address this chamber?" she asked respectfully.

"Of course, the chair now recognises Ambassador Lya of the Nox," the Speaker answered.

"Thank you," Lya answered. "Members of the Tau'ri Senate, gentle beings, honoured colleagues the ships that were encountered by the combined fleet are known to my kind," she said. "We encountered them once many millions of years ago when we were still exploring the universe."

"What happened," Senator Knowles asked a little humbled that the Nox ambassador was narrating this as it was rare for the Nox to speak at Senate meetings. However when they did everyone listened as the Nox were the oldest of the known races, only two or three million years younger than the long since ascended Ancients. There long contemplation of the universe and the mysteries of mind and spirit made them perhaps one of the wisest and fairest of all sentient beings. When the Nox spoke like this, only fools would ignore them.

"Our ships were attacked," Lya, answered. "As you all know we of the Nox do not believe in physical violence instead defending ourselves through illusion and mastery of the mind. It was in our attempt to defend ourselves through our normal means we learned what these aliens are and what they desire. We were appalled beyond measure. We then made them believe that they'd destroyed our ships so we could withdraw without incident."

"You know of these aliens then," Odin asked more than a little surprised, though he supposed he really shouldn't have been as was well aware of the fact that the Nox were an ancient species, many millions of years older than his own were. Even after thousands of years of contact with the Nox, they were still in many ways a mystery to the Asgard.

"Yes. We have never really spoken of them save to the Alterans and the Furlings, at that time Ambassador Odin, your species was not a spacefaring race let alone part of the old alliance of races. By the time you joined the alliance, it had been so long that we had or less forgotten about this species and our encounter with them."

"Who are they and what do they want," Senator Weber asked.

"They are called the Sinhindrea," Lya answered. "As for what they want, they wish to destroy all life that is not of there own world. They are a species with an instinctive, burning hatred for all other forms of sentient life, whenever they find a new sentient species they endeavour to destroy it down to the last individual."

For a moment, horrified silence filled the chamber. Even the Aschen representative, Metan looked sickened at the thought of such wholesale genocide. While the Aschen wouldn't and didn't bat an eye at the idea of killing whole civilisations, even they drew the line at slaughtering an entire people down to the last individual. The Aschen always left some alive – even if they completely erased the culture of the survivors – to become members/servants in the Aschen Confederation.

"Why would they do such a monstrous thing," Senator Weber asked at last breaking the silence.

"The Sinhindrea believe that of all species they are the only ones with the right to exist in the universe, that all other sentient life forms are inferior and must be exterminated," Lya answered. "At the time, we encountered them they had already wiped out most sentient species in their galaxy.

"Had we known you were sending a cityship to that dark place we would have warned you to stay away from there," Lya continued. "We had hoped that the Sinhindrea would never be encountered again. But now that you have encountered them you must not waver, for they will eventually come for you."

"Do they have intergalactic hyperspace technology?" Odin asked.

"I do not believe so," Lya answered. "But like my own species and the Wraith the Sinhindrea are a very long lived race, they will not blink at taking centuries to cross the great void between galaxies if they get the chance to destroy more galaxies of life. They have tried to do so before."

"I don't understand," Senator Weber replied.

"Then allow me to explain," Lya said. "Just over five million years ago the Alterans detected a large fleet of Sinhindrea war vessels approaching this galaxy. It had been four thousand years since we had encountered the Sinhindrea but the others in the alliance remembered our experience. The Alterans and the Furlings dispatched a large fleet of warships under the overall command of General Hippaferalkus to stop them."

"What happened," Senator Knowles asked on behalf of the enraptured chamber.

"From what we were told a great battle far more fierce than the one we have just witnessed erupted in the void between galaxies," Lya replied. "The Sinhindrea were defeated, there forces destroyed to the last ship, but the price was high. Of over four thousand Alteran and Furling, warships dispatched only a few hundred returned, all with significant or serious damage.

"Shortly thereafter the Alterans and the Furlings sent an even larger and more powerful fleet of warships to the dark place where the Sinhindrea walk," Lya continued. "To their surprise they discovered that the Sinhindrea had depleted most of their forces to send the invasion fleet. Despite the near depletion of their military forces, the Sinhindrea attacked them with incredible viciousness. Over the next several years, battles fiercer than what any known race has seen since raged across the dark matter galaxy, but in the end the combined Alteran and Furling forces were victorious. The Sinhindrea were driven all the way back to the watery world they called home, whereupon the allied forces endeavoured to ensure that they would never be a threat to life in the universe again.

"Despite everything the Sinhindrea had done, all the horrors the alliance had seen or found evidence of the Alterans and Furlings were reluctant to destroy the Sinhindrea totally. It was felt that to do so would make them no better than the Sinhindrea. In the end the allied fleets bombarded the Sinhindrea homeworld from space for several hours, by the time the bombardment ended not one building still stood, not one piece of technology remained functional. To all intents and purposes the Sinhindrea were – to borrow a Tau'ri phrase – blasted back into the Stone Age."

Lya paused in her narration for a moment to take a sip from a glass of water, that all Senators and ambassadors were provided with – or with there races equivalent if they could not drink water. Then she continued.

"It was hoped by the Alterans, the Furlings and ourselves that the Sinhindrea would learn from there experience. Would as a species turn away from the path of xenophobic hatred, unfortunately that does not seem to have happened. If anything the Sinhindrea are probably more xenophobic now than they have ever been," she said.

"This recording we have been shown reveals that despite our hopes the Sinhindrea have not changed for the better," Lya continued. "It also shows that they have rebuilt much of there technology, if the previous pattern holds the Sinhindrea will begin a massive build up of forces as a prelude to a full scale invasion of this galaxy."

"Unless we stop them now," Senator Weber said. "From what you've told us if the Sinhindrea come to this galaxy they will destroy every inhabited world, every sentient species until there is nothing left at all. We cannot and must not let such a horror unfold the Sinhindrea must be stopped and stopped now. Or our children and grandchildren would pay the price for our inaction upon this issue."

"Then again we maybe the ones who pay if was sit by and do nothing," Senator Darrel Carpenter added, he was one of Weber's colleagues and a member of the defence sub-committee. "Given Rivendell's silence it's very likely that the city and her escort squadron have been destroyed, if the Sinhindrea are resourceful – and it would be foolish to think that they are not – then its possible the could recover hyperdrive components from the debris of either the city or her escort. If they have enough of them then they could potentially reverse engineer our intergalactic hyperspace technology."

"That is a most unpleasant prospect," Ambassador Odin said. He had sat quietly listening to what Lya had said and the more he'd heard the more concerned he'd become, in all his kinds dealings with the Ancients and the Furlings during the time of the old alliance they'd never known either race to act so aggressively towards someone. For all of there immense technological and military power both species had been gentle and preferred to use endless rounds of diplomacy to solve disputes rather than violence; the fact that they had treated the Sinhindrea so differently was cause for concern. As it meant that, the threat the Sinhindrea posed was far, far worse than his people had believed. Not that it mattered as the Asgard High Council had already made its decision regarding the Sinhindrea. The destruction of the _General O'Neill_ and twenty-three other Asgard ships at the cost of thousands of Asgard lives had already sealed the Sinhindrea's fate.

"Mister Speaker might I be permitted to address this chamber," he asked formally, knowing it was time to inform the chamber of the Asgards decision.

"Of course," the Speaker answered. "The chair now recognises Ambassador Odin of the Asgard."

"Thank you," Odin replied. "Members of the Tau'ri Senate, gentle beings, colleagues and friends of old, the Asgard High Council has considered the matters relating to the battle we have just witnessed. As appointed ambassador it is now my duty to inform you all of their decision regarding this matter."

"And what is there decision, ambassador," Aaron asked bracing himself, already suspecting what Odin was going to say. A quick glance around the chamber at the suddenly very apprehensive Senators showed that they to had suspicions about where this was going to lead.

For a moment Odin paused, gathering up his thoughts on exactly how to proceed with the announcement of his people's decision before speaking again. "Seven thousand, three hundred and eighty-nine Asgard on twenty four ships died in the battle we have just witnessed," he said seemingly in the normal matter of fact manner of his kind. However, that was only an illusion as anyone skilled at reading the Asgard would be able to see the space cold anger hiding behind the words.

"Seven thousand, three hundred and eighty-nine souls sent to the great halls of Valhalla before there time," Odin continued. "Not since the first days of the Replicator War has there been such a sudden and massive loss of Asgard lives. After much deliberation, the Asgard High Council has unanimously agreed that we cannot and will not allow such an outrage to go unanswered. Therefore by unanimous decree seven, eight, eight, nine, nine, one dash three, four, seven slash nine, the High Council of Asgard has issued a formal declaration of war upon the alien race now known to be called the Sinhindrea.

"As we speak Thor and other senior commanders are preparing our forces for war," Odin went on. "However given the observed technological level, viciousness and ruthlessness of the Sinhindrea it will be very difficult for us to defeat them alone – especially in light of what Ambassador Lya has just told us. Therefore under article seven of the Treaty of Alliance the Asgard High Council formally requests Tau'ri military assistance in the battle before us."

Silence greeted Odin's announcement. But only for a moment before the great chamber erupted into a continuous hubbub of sound as all the Senators – and many of the representatives of allied powers – all began talking at once. The noise rolled through the auditorium like an insubstantial tsunami, echoing off the walls and filling the chamber with a virtual cacophony of sound. After a moment, the banging of the Speakers gavel echoed through the chamber.

"Order, order," the Speaker said into his microphone – his voice amplifying so he sounded almost like an angry god. "There will be order in this chamber."

Slowly the noise died down, one by one or in groups of two Senators going silent as the Speaker continued to bang his gavel signally for silence and order in the chamber. Finally, total silence returned to the chamber.

"Thank you," the Speaker said. "The chair now recognises President Aaron Harker."

"Thank you, Mister Speaker," Aaron answered before addressing the rest of the Senate. He already knew what the ultimate decision of the Senate would be regarding the Asgard request, a request that would for the first time in centuries plunge the Tau'ri Federation into war a war that if Lya was correct could not be avoided. Still a proper debate on the matter followed by a full Senate vote had to have a chance to take place; form had to be followed after all for the war to come to be a legal one.

"Members of the Senate, gentle beings, honoured colleagues," he began. "A grave decision now stands before us, perhaps the hardest decision any of us will ever make. Do we honour the cause in the Treaty of Alliance and join the Asgard in war with the Sinhindrea, if we do then we will be starting down a road from which there cannot and must not be any going back. Or do we do nothing, do we stay neutral in the battle ahead and hope the Asgard can defeat the Sinhindrea on there own?

"This is the decision that we much reach," he continued. "Ambassador Odin," the Asgard immediately looked up at him, "as your people have made this request of us I must ask that you leave this chamber while the matter is debated. Return to your offices here in the government complex, you will be summoned back to this chamber when our decision is made."

Odin nodded his head. "As you wish, Mr President," he replied before standing up from his throne like chair. He'd known that this temporary dismissal would be coming, he was well aware of the rules and clauses that governed the Tau'ri Senate. He could not be here for the debate to follow – though he guessed it would be a short one – as he wouldn't be impartial to it. With the calmness his kind was known for, he made his way out of the Senate chamber to return to the office he had here in the complex to wait for the summons that was sure to come soon.

Aaron watched him leave, but before he could speak, again Senator Weber spoke up.

"Mr President," she said formally. "I personally do not believe a debate on this matter is really necessary. The Asgard have been our friends and allies for over six hundred years, in that time they have done much for us and asked for very little in return. Not joining them in war against the Sinhindrea would be a betrayal of that ancient friendship that is something we cannot do.

"Plus we should consider Ambassador Lya's testimony on the nature of the Sinhindrea," Weber continued. "We will eventually face them in battle; if we are to go down the road of war then it would be better to do it now, when we can have the Asgard at our sides, than later when the Asgard might not have the resources to assist us. Therefore I move that we vote now upon this issue."

"I disagree," Senator Knowles responded. "While I will not deny the fact that the Sinhindrea are a formidable opponent in battle, I do not see them as a threat to us right now. We should instead divert our time, effort and resources to other issues. We can deal with the Sinhindrea another time. In fact it is likely that if we leave the Sinhindrea alone then they will leave us alone."

"Have you not been listening, Senator Knowles," Senator Carpenter asked in away that suggested he was talking to a child. "Ambassador Lya's testimony has revealed the exact nature of the Sinhindrea to us; they are a clear threat to us. One we cannot sit by and do nothing about, if we join forces with the Asgard we can deal with them now. While it will be costly it would be a lot more costly to sit back and do nothing only for the Sinhindrea to show up on our doorsteps a few years or centuries down the line."

"If they do they'd be destroyed," Knowles replied. "Despite the effectiveness of their ships in the battle we just viewed, the Sinhindrea are no threat to us. They control a single small if very exotic galaxy, when we control far more than that, thus the resources we command are far greater than there own. We should not treat them like they are a threat when they would at most be a nuisance."

"You really believe that don't you," Carpenter asked, astonished by his fellow Senators arrogance and conceit. "If you do then you are a fool."

"Excuse me," Knowles growled glaring angrily at his long-term opponent.

"You heard me," Carpenter answered. "The Sinhindrea destroyed a large number of our warships during the battle we've just viewed, plus the silence from Rivendell and her escorts means that they to have most likely been destroyed. They have killed hundreds of thousands of our people and injured hundreds, possibly thousands more. Of course, they are a threat, one that we cannot and must not ignore. Yes, we control more territory than they likely do but this is not about territory, Senator Knowles. It is about justice, honour and self-preservation. Stopping the Sinhindrea now will cost lives no one is denying that. However, the hundreds of billions of lives that could be saved by preventing the Sinhindrea from coming to this galaxy - especially among the developing worlds – make that sacrifice a noble and worthwhile one. I have to agree with Senator Weber, a debate on this matter is not necessary. We should vote now."

Another nearby Senator nodded. "Vote now," he agreed.

"Vote now," a second Senator added followed half a second later by several more, then yet more after that until the whole chamber was reverberating to the cry of vote now.

"Order, order," the Speaker snapped banging his gavel again, once again bringing quiet upon the assembly. "Thank you. Mr President you still have the floor if you wish to speak."

"Thank you, Mister Speaker," Aaron Harker answered before addressing the members of the senate again. "Since this body appears to be willing to vote on this issue now, then we shall do so. However before we do so I would remind every member of this august body that once made this decision can't be undone. As I said earlier once we start down the road of war there can be no going back or turning away, we follow the road to its end whatever the outcome may be.

"Therefore I ask that before casting your vote you all carefully consider your decision," he continued. "Does anyone wish to make a statement before the vote is taken?" Silence was his only answer. "Very well," as calmly as he could given the gravity of the decision that had to be made, Aaron put his hand on a neural interface panel on the desk in front of him.

Immediately Avalon's government datastream unfolded in his awareness, overlaying his normal vision with rapidly streaming characters in the familiar blocky language of the Ancients – which they long since adopted themselves for writing, though they did still use English and other old Earth languages from time to time. Each of the streaming characters had its own unique meaning as each indicated a specific file, group of files or database, it was just a question now of opening the right set of files for declaring war.

"_How may I help you, Mr President,"_ Arthur's voice suddenly said in his mind as the avatar of Avalon's AI face appeared in his vision, overlaying the streaming data characters.

"_Arthur I need access to the government files for a declaration of war,"_ Aaron answered but only in his mind.

"_Stand by,"_ Arthur replied before blinking. One of the hundreds of thousands of streaming characters stopped moving, flashed once then the stream changed, showing a directory of files for him to choose from. _"Access gained, Mr President. Can I help you with anything else?"_

"_Not right now, Arthur. However please stay online ready to record the result of the vote."_

"_As you wish, do you want me to alert Admiral Brackett and the Joint Chiefs?"_

"_Yes. Tell them to meet me in my office as soon as this special session ends."_

"_Yes, Mr President," _Arthur acknowledged before his face disappeared leaving the mental datastream display.

Concentrating on the display in his head, Aaron Harker scrolled through the list of files until he found the correct voting form for a declaration of war in support of an allied power. At the speed of thought, he filled in the parts of the form that had to be filled in prior to voting. Basically the parts that said who the enemy there were to fight was and which allied race they were joining in the war, before forwarding the form to the Speaker, the rest of his cabinet and the assembled Senators. Then he pulled his hand off the interface pad and blinked as the datastream vanished from in front of his eyes.

"The Senate will now vote on the issue of joining the Asgard in a war against the species known as the Sinhindrea," the Speaker announced. "Given the gravity of the issue before us, the members of this body must vote either yes or no for war, abstention votes will not be counted. Is that understood?" A murmur of ascent ran through the thousands of assembled Senators. "Then let us vote."

Silence descended on the great chamber, broken only by the soft almost inaudible sound of the Senators as all put a hand on a neural interface pad. All the Senate seats had them to make it easier for data to be accessed and for occasions such as this when a vote was being taken. It was a far more efficient and secure system than using old-fashioned consoles or voting slips, cheating the system was impossible as Arthur always monitored and recorded the vote as each particular vote was cast.

The silence dragged on for a good couple of minutes. Finally, though holographic screens blinked into existence in front of both Aaron Harker and the Senate Speaker, screens showing the result of the vote. After a few more seconds of silence, the Speaker spoke up.

"The votes of this body have been tallied and verified as correct by, Arthur," he said. "By an overwhelming majority the yays have it…

"…as of this moment, a state of war exists between the Tau'ri Federation and the Sinhindrea."

* * *

**TFS Repulse**

**Geostationary Orbit of Datura III**

**A Short Time Later**

Admiral Helena Hawkins resisted the impulse to sigh as she sat at her ready room desk reading the latest reports on the repairs to her remaining ships. It wasn't encouraging reading; the unknown ionising radiation left behind by the highly unusual antiproton based plasma balls used by the inhabitants of the dark matter galaxy was still causing considerable problems. Affected systems were still not responding to attempts at repair, though it was apparent that the radiation was decaying and that its effects were no longer cascading through to additional systems. Engineers across the fleet and sent up from the cityship Alderaan on the planet below seemed to all be of the opinion that all infected systems would have to be completely stripped out and replaced, which was easier said than done as many of those systems could not be repaired outside of a shipyard.

The news about the casualties was equally discouraging. Despite there best efforts the doctors in Alderaan were struggling to find ways to treat the radiation burns from the alien weapons, none of there normal methods had proven effective. Patients infected by the radiation were continuing to die as the vile stuff literally caused cellular structures throughout the body to break down at the sub-molecular level. _What is that blasted radiation,_ she thought not for the first time as she put the computer pad down, _why can't we really deal with its effects. How many more people is it going to kill before someone finds away to deal with it? Even the Ancient medical database is only being of limited help._

After a moment, she sighed and leaned back in her chair. For a few moments, she contemplated attempting to meditate for a bit, to calm her turbulent thoughts but knew it probably wouldn't work. She'd never been the best at meditation, indeed she'd had something of a habit of falling asleep in meditation classes, the most she could manage with mediation was a short five or ten minute session. _I suppose I should try,_ she thought after a moment before starting to get up, only for her desk comm. unit to trill for attention. _Now what,_ she thought as she sat back down a pressed a control on the offending device. Immediately a holographic screen blinked into existence in front of her showing the face and upper torso of Captain Baker.

"Yes captain," she asked wondering what her flag captain wanted.

"Forgive me for disturbing you, Admiral but we're receiving a high priority signal from Defence Forces Central Command in Avalon," Barker answered. "Ma'am its Admiral Brackett himself, he's asking to speak to you on a matter of the utmost urgency."

"Put him through," Helena ordered feeling a wave of dread wash through her and congeal into a diamond hard lump in her stomach. _Oh, God please don't let this be about what I think its going to be about,_ she thought.

"Aye ma'am," Barker answered before nodding to someone else on the flag bridge. Instantly the image on the holographic screen changed from the familiar features of the _Repulses _commanding officer to the face and upper torso of First Admiral Taylor Brackett.

"Sir," Helena greeted coming to a position as close to attention as she could manage while sat in her chair.

"At ease, admiral," Brackett ordered, prompting Helena to adopt an at ease posture. "I'm sorry to surprise you like this but you and all other senior fleet commanders need to know what has happened before the news is broken to the population at large. The president will be doing that within two hours."

"What has happened, sir?" Helena asked feeling her sense of dread get worse.

"Just over an hour ago the Senate met in emergency session to discuss the battle between your fleet and the dark matter galaxy aliens, aliens that thanks to our friends the Nox we now know to be called the Sinhindrea."

"The Nox know the aliens?"

"Indeed, more than that the Ancients and the Furlings knew them as well," Brackett answered before giving Helena a short run down on exactly what Ambassador Lya had revealed to the Tau'ri Senate about the Sinhindrea, and the war five million years ago between the Sinhindrea, the Ancients and the Furlings.

When he was done, Helena sat in horrified silence for a moment. Like most people, she knew that for all there immense military and technological might the Ancients had been a peaceful people. A people more concerned with unravelling the mysteries of the universe and searching for the secret of ascension than military conflict of any kind. The fact that the Ancients had seen these Sinhindrea as a big enough threat to warrant a full scale, all out invasion and ultimate blasting back to the stone age was very telling. And more than a little ominous, though when she thought about it the Ancients encounter with the Sinhindrea could well explain why she and every other Tau'ri in the fleet had felt profound apprehension and a sense of danger when they'd seen that first Sinhindrea vessel. Something in them, something from the Ancients themselves, had been warning them that the approaching ship was dangerous.

"That's disturbing to say the least sir," Helena commented. "The fact that the Ancients considered these Sinhindrea to be such a threat to themselves and all other life in this galaxy is…very disturbing."

"I agree. Unfortunately there is much more for you to hear."

"Sir?"

"Ambassador Odin of the Asgard addressed the Senate shortly after Lya finished speaking," Brackett informed her. "He informed the Senators that in light of the actions of the Sinhindrea, and the death of over seven thousand of there people, the Asgard High Council felt that it had no choice but to declare a formal state of war between themselves and the Sinhindrea. They also invoked the clause in the Treaty of Alliance that asks for military assistance from ourselves."

"And how did the Senate react to that sir," Helena asked though she had a feeling that she already knew what the answer would be.

"As you can imagine they were shocked by the Asgard announcement. After what has to be the shortest discussion in the history of the Senate, the Senators came to the conclusion that based on the battle in the void, and the information provided by the Nox, that the Sinhindrea are a grave threat to us that we cannot and must not ignore.

"In light of that, by an overwhelming majority the Senators voted for a formal declaration of war between ourselves and the Sinhindrea. From twenty four hundred hours tonight, Earth Standard Time, a full state of war will exist between the Sinhindrea and us and will continue until such time as the Sinhindrea are no longer a threat. Given that both ourselves and the Asgard have declared war, I don't see the Jaffa not following suit, especially as they also lost thousands of there people in the battle in the void."

"I see sir," Helena answered. _Oh God its really happened,_ she thought, _we've really declared war on someone._ "What do you want me to do?"

"For now nothing, your fleet needs time to repair and recover from the effects of your battle with the Sinhindrea in the void," Brackett told her. "Repair tugs and a mobile shipyard have been dispatched to Datura to begin more extensive repairs on your ships; they should arrive in the next twenty hours. In the meantime I need you to bring as many of your ships back to full operational status as you can on your own."

"I understand sir."

"Good. Good luck, Admiral."

"To all of us, sir." Brackett nodded in agreement before breaking the communications link from his end. The holographic screen evaporated into nothingness leaving Helena once again alone in her ready room.

For a moment, she sat silent at her desk, thinking about what she had just been told. War. For the first time in hundreds of years the Tau'ri Federation was going to war, a horror that she had hoped and preyed she would never see in her lifetime was about to be unleashed. The Sinhindrea had awoken two giants and filled them with terrible resolve, and were about to begin to reap the whirlwind that they had sown.

Mentally shaking herself Helena reached out and touched a crystalline button on her desk comm. unit. Instantly a holographic screen appeared in front of her once again showing the face and torso of Captain Barker.

"Yes, ma'am?" Barker asked.

"Captain I need you to send a signal. All senior fleet commanders are to gather on this ship immediately. I want them all in the war room within half an hour."

"Aye, ma'am," Barker replied then paused. "Admiral may I ask what is going on?"

"We're going to war, Captain," Helena answered. "From twenty four hundred hours Earth time tonight both the Tau'ri Federation and the Asgard Empire will be at war with the dark matter galaxy aliens.

"And may God help us all."


	24. Chapter 23

_**Chapter Twenty-Three**_

**Sometime Later**

Freshly appointed Ambassador Kevin Englewood resisted the impulse to fidget uncomfortably as he gazed out at the hyperspace tunnel streaking past the windows of the medium range personnel transport shuttle. He still had trouble wrapping his head around the fact that he had been chosen to act as ambassador between the Tau'ri Federation in this universe – as few of them as there were here – and the galaxy at large as represented on Babylon Five. It was an enormous responsibility and one he had never anticipated this early in his career – though as Governor Shepherd had pointed out he was the closest thing they had to a fully qualified professional diplomat next to herself, and she obviously couldn't go given her responsibilities to everyone in Rivendell and the task ahead of their people. A task that when you thought about it seemed nigh on impossible, though the curveball fate or some random ascended being had thrown them by exiling them here to this universe meant that they had no choice but to try and make a new life for themselves. His appointment as ambassador to Babylon Five was part of that new life.

_Doesn't stop me wishing someone else could be in my shoes,_ he thought glancing out the window at the shimmering blue tunnel outside. Though he was no engineer – instead, his skills lay in the areas of linguistics and diplomacy – he knew that the transport would soon reach Babylon Five. Even with the limited hyperspace speeds this small ship could travel at the journey from the planet where Rivendell was located – they'd still to name the planet though rumour had it that they were going to call it Novorsa from the Latin words for new and beginning – to Epsilon Eridani was not a long one. Barely twelve hundred light years all told, even with only a basic interstellar hyperdrive it wouldn't take more than fifteen minutes for the transport to reach Babylon Five – and they'd already been in hyperspace for at least ten minutes. However, to Kevin it had felt like an eternity.

"Relax ambassador," a male voice said from beside him. "You're going to be a nervous wreck by the time we reach Babylon Five at this rate."

Kevin sighed and looked across at Lieutenant Nathan Blackwell, the young marine officer from the _Concordia_ who'd been assigned as his diplomatic attaché/bodyguard. He admired the other mans laid-back attitude as he sat there; he showed no sign of being nervous about the task ahead of them. Also knowing that the marine would be right beside him the whole time he was on Babylon Five was comforting, especially as he'd been permitted to look at Blackwell's service record by Admiral Robyns prior to leaving Rivendell. A service record that revealed Blackwell was Special Forces trained though he'd been rotated back into the regular marines for a while after much of his Special Forces team were killed in one of the seemingly endless border skirmishes with the Aschen Confederation. However the file made it clear that despite the rotation Blackwell still possessed all his SF nanoware implants, they'd never been deactivated and removed/replaced with standard marine nanoware when he'd been rotated back into the regular marines. Which meant that the six foot four marine was even stronger and quicker than his two hundred and forty-five pound frame indicated – all in all the perfect bodyguard for a place that had already proven itself to be dangerous.

"I know," he admitted. "I just can't help it; I'm only a junior diplomat I should have had a few more years of field training before being assigned a duty like this."

"None of us expected to be put in the position we are in now," Nathan reminded him. "When we set out for that dark matter galaxy we never expected to be hurled into another universe, nor did we expect to loose a few of our people to neural feedback shock during the transit."

"True," Kevin conceded wincing at the memory. He'd been hit by some of that feedback himself and been lucky to have only gotten a bad headache for a few days, his friend and mentor Ambassador Jonas Varell had not been so lucky. Like dozens of others, the shock he'd received had resulted in him suffering a fatal stroke. "Though I do wish Jonas was still here to do this not me."

"Yeah well if wishes were credits we'd all be billionaires by now."

Kevin laughed softly. "I like you lieutenant," he replied smiling.

"Your not so bad yourself, ambassador," Nathan answered. "Though since we're going to be working together for awhile we might as well drop some of the formalities at least amongst ourselves, call me Nathan."

The faint hint of a smile appeared on Kevin's face. "Alright," he said. "Nathan it is, as long as long as you call me Kevin."

"Deal," Nathan replied.

Kevin started to open his mouth to speak again when there came a distant rumble, like thunder in the distance and the Kestrel-class transport shuddered like a ground car that had just gone to fast over a speed bump.

"What the hell," Nathan said looking around a moment before the transport jerked violently to starboard, then to port before stabilising. But only for half a second before shaking again. Alarms went off in the cockpit compartment and through the rear view ports both diplomat and marine could see the tunnel of hyperspace crackling and twisting, strange ripples of purple-white light passing down the tunnel each accompanied by another violent shudder in the deck.

Nathan sprang to his feet and ran forwards, keeping his footing on the shaking deck with a combination of practiced ease and nanoware implant enhanced balance. "What's going on," he asked as soon as he crossed through the heavy bulkhead doors separating the two parts of the transport.

"I don't know," Ensign Sorrick – their Serakin pilot – answered as the transport, continued shaking. "Somekind of extremely powerful tachyon distortion field in subspace, its disrupting our hyperspace channel. Hyperdrive temperature redlining – initiating emergency deceleration to sublight."

Nathan nodded and braced himself while quickly yelling back for Kevin to do the same. A moment later the distorting, flexing hyperspace tunnel outside flashed and vanished as the hyperdrive shut down with none of the normal power down sequence taking place, violently reverting the craft back into normal space-time. For all three onboard the sudden deceleration manifested as a visible ripple in the air and artificial gravity field. The naquada-trinium-carbon alloy hull groaned and control crystals audibly rattled in their slots as the ship protested the sudden strain being placed on its systems by the extreme deceleration.

Finally, the transport stabilised as the forward thrusters overcame the effects of the greater than normal hyperspace inertia and brought the ship to a complete halt. Silence gripped the interior of the transport, then almost as one all three people on board let out breaths of pure relief that they had come through the violent reversion unharmed – aside from a little bit of damage to their nerves.

"Status," Nathan asked moving aside slightly as he heard Kevin come into the cockpit himself.

"Hyperdrives out," Sorrick replied hands dancing over the crystalline controls instructing the computer to begin diagnostics. "Gravitic ion sublight engines are responding but we'll only be capable of twenty five percent of our normal thrust, the control relays must be damaged. Main power's holding. Automatic repair systems have engaged."

"Where are we?" Kevin asked.

"We're in the outer reaches of the Epsilon Eridani system, Babylon Five is twenty AU closer to the star," Sorrick answered. "At our current maximum speed it will take several hours to reach the station." The sensors chirped. "I'm picking up a sensor contact coming this way, small craft it's moving at a low to moderate sublight speed. From the size and limited armaments I'd say that it's a fighter."

"Put it up on the HUD," Nathan instructed. Sorrick nodded and obeyed, pressing a certain crystal making the holographic heads up display blink into existence. A single small spacecraft of a strange but distinctive X design hung in the centre window of the display, readouts from the scanners being displayed on smaller windows; readouts that revealed the ship was being powered by a pair of fusion batteries. The craft was being propelled forward by four small ion-based engine pods mounted on the ends of its four arms. Its armaments were basic, a pair of low yield plasma pulse cannons and eight missiles, even though they were damaged the fighter was no threat to the transport its weapons to low powered to penetrate their shields while there own limited weapons would have no difficulty destroying it.

The pilots console abruptly bleeped a warning. "The fighter is scanning us," Sorrick said after a moment as the information was transmitted into his brain through a neural implant that he like all non-Tau'ri officers in or in his case on exchange with the Tau'ri Defence Forces had. An implant that let them operate most aspects of Tau'ri technology in the same way the Tau'ri themselves could, though it was slower and more cumbersome than the natural neural link Tau'ri had with their technology and some technologies like control chairs were impossible to use even with the implant. Though it was a very sophisticated piece of technology the implant couldn't handle the full emersion in a datastream that came from sitting in devices like active control chairs.

Another bleep came from the console. "We're being hailed by the fighter, audio only," Sorrick said.

"Let's hear it," Kevin replied stepping up, Nathan moving aside to let him slide into the co-pilots seat and putting a hand on the console, making the crystals light up as power abruptly flowed into the console circuitry. The cockpits hidden speakers crackled softly then a youngish sounding male voice came through.

"Starfury Alpha Seven to unidentified vessel," the currently nameless pilot of the fighter said. "You've entered Babylon Five controlled space, identify yourselves and state your intentions."

"Let me talk to him," Kevin said nodding to Sorrick. Sorrick nodded back in answer to the silent command and pressed one of the crystalline controls on his console changing the comm. link to two way. "Starfury pilot this is the Tau'ri diplomatic shuttle _Crystal Star_. We are bound for Babylon Five."

For a moment the Starfury pilot was quiet, presumably surprised that they hadn't come into the system far closer to Babylon Five. Kevin guessed that was understandable given what little information the people of this universe had on their hyperdrives, basically what they'd observed the _Jutland_ being capable of, would have told them that they could emerge from hyperspace with amazing accuracy. _Though jumping in literally on top of Babylon Five was a bit over the top,_ Kevin thought with a mental eye-roll, _Captain McKenzie could have had his ship drop out of hyperspace further away from Babylon Five and still beamed Lieutenant Tayman and the probe off. As it was, he probably scared a few people on the station half to death._

"I see," the pilot answered after a moment. "Why did you not appear closer to the station," the pilot continued sounding suspicious. "Why did you drop back into normal space all the way out here in Sector 14?"

"It's a complicated answer but suffice to say we encountered a difficulty with our hyperdrive that forced us to revert to normal space-time earlier than we had originally intended," Kevin replied. "Tell me pilot do you know of any phenomenon in this area that could cause a strong tachyon distortion field?"

The frown that had to be on the Starfury pilots face was audible in his voice as he answered. "Not to me knowledge," the pilot answered. "Though there have been weird reports about this sector of the system for years now, ever since Babylon Four disappeared here just after going online."

Kevin frowned and was about to ask a question when the pilots console gave a warning trill as the sensors detected something that the computer believed to be potentially dangerous. "Excuse me, pilot," he said before looking over at Ensign Sorrick. "What is it?"

"The tachyon distortion field in subspace is back," Sorrick replied. "Field is focused a thousand kilometres aft of us; I'm detecting a massive spatial distortion forming."

"What kind of spatial distortion?" Nathan asked from behind them.

"Unknown I've never seen anything like it," Sorrick answered as he brought the sensor information up on the HUD. Information that revealed that space a thousand kilometres behind was warping and distorting, the quantum folds of subspace time being unzipped by some tremendously powerful force. A perfectly straight section of space just over seven and a half kilometres long abruptly seem to tear open spilling massive quantities of subspace energy and highly charged tachyon particles into normal space time.

Before the disbelieving eyes of the two Tau'ri and one Serakin the distortion expanded into a shape vaguely reminiscent of Babylon Five but much larger and with some visible differences in configuration. Space around the glowing tear rippled and distorted as with a brilliant flash of light the tear transformed itself into a gigantic seven and a half kilometre long O'Neil-type space station. A rippling wave of energy and distortion blasted out from around the station at high speed – expanding outwards in a sphere of radiant power and spatial distortion.

Reacting on training more than conscious thought Ensign Sorrick raised _Crystal Star's_ shields and fearing for the safety of the Starfury pilot moved the transport closer and extended the force field around the fragile fighter. A moment later the energy wave smashed into the concave wall of the force field making the shield flare a brilliant silver-white with strain as the distortion clawed at the barrier attempting to break through to damage the fragile ships underneath. In a fortunate twist of fate, it was the enormous kinetic force of the impacting energy wave proved the salvation of both craft as it accelerated both craft forward like a board on the crest of an ocean breaker. The glow of the _Crystal Star's_ straining shields flickered and died as the imparted force carried them clear of the potentially very damaging threshold of the spatial and temporal distortion field around the space station.

* * *

Kevin coughed softly and waved a hand at the haze of smoke that hung in the _Crystal Star's_ cockpit. Alarm klaxons continued to wail softly, reporting on additional damage to the Kestrel-class transports systems, damage that was perfectly obvious from the haze of smoke along with the acrid scent of overloaded control crystals that filled the interior of the ship.

"How bad is it," he asked as Sorrick shut the alarms down.

"Bad but it could be worse, ambassador," Sorrick answered as a damage schematic appeared on the HUD. "Shields are down to forty percent; weapons systems are fused and are currently inoperable. Sublight… sublight engines are off line, main power down to sixty percent."

"Damn," Kevin breathed softly, before speaking more loudly. "What about the Starfury? What's its status?"

Sorrick was silent for a moment as he used the transports sensors to probe the Starfury. "The craft is disabled," he reported. "Minimal power readings, engines appear to be completely dead. Still picking up a life sign on board but its very weak. My guess is the pilot is unconscious."

"Is the transporter system on line?" Nathan asked.

"Yes," Sorrick answered.

"Then transport the pilot onboard," Kevin instructed. "Once that's done hail the _Jutland_."

"Yes ambassador," Sorrick replied a moment before the familiar silver-white flash and soft musical sound of a transporter beam came from the passenger compartment.

"I'll check on our guest," Nathan said from behind the control stations at the front of the small cockpit. Kevin nodded in agreement and heard the SF marine begin walking away a moment before a holographic communications screen appeared in place of the HUD, showing the face of the _Jutland's_ first officer Commander Jordan Blake.

"_Crystal Star_ this is the _Jutland_, what's your status?" Blake asked immediately.

"Commander our propulsion systems both hyperspace and sublight have been disabled," Kevin answered and almost smiled when the older man sat up straighter as he suddenly recognised him for who he was. "We're dead in the water; we've also beamed over a pilot from a disabled Earth Alliance Starfury."

"Understood, ambassador," Blake replied. "I'll inform Captain McKenzie of your situation. Do you require our assistance?"

"It would be appreciated commander," Kevin said. "Given the spatial distortion behind us I'd rather not sit here for a couple of hours waiting for the automatic systems to repair our sublight drives."

"No I suppose you wouldn't," Blake deadpanned before looking away his mouth moving as he gave some orders on the _Jutland's_ bridge. Then he turned back to look at Kevin and back into the narrow cone of the audio pickups. "We're breaking orbit of Epsilon Three now, ambassador," he said. "Navigation is currently plotting a precision hyperspace jump to your location we'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you commander though I wouldn't advise you use your hyperdrive," Kevin answered. At the confused look the distant commander threw him he explained about the tachyon distortion field in subspace that had destabilised there hyperspace channel forcing them to emergency revert to normal space or risk being ripped apart by the turbulence.

"If you use your hyperdrive you run the risk of experiencing what we did as soon as you enter this part of the system," Kevin concluded. "At the very least you'd risk burning out your hyperdrives, at worst you could end up scattering your atoms from one side of the universe to the other."

Blake grimaced. "Neither of those are pleasant prospects," he said with a visible shiver. It was understandable, as most people who served on starships knew exactly what could go wrong with a hyperdrive and what the consequences could be. "We'll just have to make the journey to your location at maximum sublight. We'll be with you within half an hour."

"Understood," Kevin, acknowledged. "We'll be waiting." Blake nodded and broke the connection from his end making the holographic screen vanish as if it had never been present at all.

Kevin sighed and started to get up to go back to the rear compartment and check on their guest when Sorrick's console emitted a soft series of bleeps. "What is it," he asked pausing and looking over at the young Serakin officer.

"Sensors have detected a coherent tachyon stream penetrating the distortion field and heading towards Babylon Five," Sorrick replied. "There appears to be a multi-frequency digital radio signal embedded in the tachyon stream."

"Can you tell what the signal is," Kevin asked and watched as Sorrick's hands danced across the crystalline controls for a moment.

"Negative," he answered, "all the computer can tell is its somekind of communications link; it should reach Babylon Five sometime in the next five minutes. We haven't the technology onboard to decrypt the signals ourselves."

"I see. Send the information on the transmission to the _Jutland_, they have a more extensive communications suite than we do, they might be able to translate it. Let me know if they reply."

"Yes ambassador."

Leaving Sorrick to his task Kevin got to his feet and went back into the passenger compartment where he found the Starfury pilot stretched out on the floor, with Nathan squatting down next to him running a portable medical diagnostic scanner over the unconscious young man.

"How is he, Nathan?" Kevin asked.

"Not the best, Kevin," Nathan answered. "He's got a moderate strength concussion, presumably from hitting his head hard on the side of his helmet the Starfury did get thrown around quite violently when the distortion wave struck our shields. I've administered a medical nanopack to deal with that. What's concerning me though are these odd cellular readings."

"What kind of readings," Kevin asked with a frown.

"I'm not sure; he's been dosed with a form of subspace radiation that I've never seen before. Its affecting his cells in away I've never seen before, many of the cells appears to be aging and dying rapidly while others are perfectly fine."

Kevin's frown deepened. "That can't be good," he said.

"It isn't," Nathan replied. "The dying cells are flooding his system with toxins, I've administered a second nanopack to deal with the blood poisoning but it's only a stop gap unless we can stop the cellular degradation. The medical packs we have on board weren't really meant to deal with radiation-based injuries. We need to get him to the more advanced medical facilities on the _Jutland_ soon or he's going to die."

"The _Jutland_ is on her way but since they can't risk using their hyperdrives in such close proximity to the distortion field it will take them at least thirty minutes to get here at maximum sublight," Kevin answered. "Will he survive that long?"

"He should do yes," Nathan replied, "especially if I administer another nanopack to support his vital organs and nervous system."

"Do it."

Nathan nodded and put the scanner down before delving into the open first aid kit beside him and taking out another medical nanites package or nanopack and starting to program it for what he needed the nanites to do. Kevin watched him for a moment before turning his full attention to the unconscious Starfury pilot. He was immediately struck by how young he was, the pilot looked to be at the most twenty-five – assuming of course that apparent age wasn't as deceptive with Earth Alliance Humans as it was with modern Tau'ri. Given the less advanced technology Earth in this universe had he wouldn't be surprised to find that the pilot was or close to the age he appeared to be, unlike Kevin himself who looked to be in his mid-twenties but was actually closer to forty than twenty. _Hold on,_ he thought to the young man, _we'll look after you just hold on._

* * *

**Command and Control**

**Babylon Five, A Few Moments Earlier**

Commander Jeffery Sinclair had a puzzled frown on his face as he stepped into the command and control centre of the diplomatic station/intergalactic Freeport that was his command. He'd been in his office working his way through his virtual forest of paperwork, which he'd been delayed getting to by the arrival of former president turned special ambassador Elizabeth Levy, when he'd gotten a call from his XO to come to C&C immediately.

"What is it lieutenant commander," he asked the beautiful but hard Russian woman who'd become one of his most trusted friends next to Michael and Delenn.

"Our sensors picked up a massive tachyon energy surge in sector fourteen near the secondary jump gate," Susan Ivanova answered. "A Starfury patrol Alpha Seven was in the area and reported shortly before the energy surge that a small craft of apparent Tau'ri design emerged from whatever FTL system they used. He was going to contact them but he hadn't reported back by the time the energy surge occurred. Now he's not responding."

Sinclair frowned. "Do you think that the two are connected," he asked worriedly.

"I would not be at all surprised, from what little we've seen of there abilities the Tau'ri probably do have the technology to create and maintain such a large and highly charged tachyon field," Susan answered and though her features were calm as she spoke she was inwardly frowning in very real concern. Generating and maintaining a tachyon field as big as the one that was only just registering on long-range scans would require both a massive understanding of tachyon physics and a truly staggering amount of power. Far more power than they'd observed Tau'ri ships put out – assuming of course that the _Cortez_ had been able to get accurate information on the _Jutland's_ power output when she'd scanned the Tau'ri cruiser during that first encounter in system NL24.

"The question is why the Tau'ri would do such a thing, if they are behind the energy surge. What could they have to gain?" Sinclair asked.

Susan frowned and was about to give one of her typically pessimistic Russian answers when Lieutenant Junior Grade David Corwin spoke up from the console pit.

"Commander," the younger man said. "Sensors have picked up a change in the _Jutland's_ energy profile – what little of it we can observe. I cannot be sure but I believe they are powering up their engines."

As he spoke Susan turned her attention to the main console and pulled up the sensor readings herself, just as the Tau'ri warship began moving, its narrow prow coming around as it started to break from its orbit of Epsilon Three. For a moment, she thought that the powerful Tau'ri war cruiser was going to turn its bow – and the two big cannons there that were presumably its primary weapons – towards Babylon Five so it was with no small amount of relief that she noticed that the cruiser was starting to head out into open space. Moving slowly as it carefully threaded its way through the lanes of traffic around Babylon Five, mercifully none of the freighter or passenger liner captains panicked as the Tau'ri vessel moved past them, gliding across space with all the ease and grace of a professional dancer. Quickly she pressed a few buttons on the console instructing the computer to work out the _Jutland's_ course.

"He's right," she said at last. "Tau'ri vessel has broken orbit of Epsilon Three and is heading out into open space. She'll be clear of the shipping lanes around the station within two minutes. Computer extrapolation indicates that she's heading straight towards Sector Fourteen."

"Contact them," Sinclair instructed a moment before Corwin spoke up again.

"Commander we're picking up a distress call from Sector Fourteen," Corwin reported then paused. "Commander it's from Babylon Four."

"Impossible, Babylon Four disappeared years ago," Susan exclaimed.

"Not necessarily," Sinclair replied. "One of the many rumours and theories concerning the disappearance of Babylon Four is that it was somehow transported to another point either in space or in time. This could be when it was transported to, check the sub-channel id confirm if it's Babylon Four. Lieutenant Corwin send a message to the _Jutland_ asking them to hold position and stand by, if that is Babylon Four out there then we may need their assistance. Also send a transmission to the _Agamemnon_ advising Captain Sheridan of the situation."

"Aye sir," the still somewhat green junior lieutenant answered and started on his assigned tasks.

As Corwin set about his tasks, Susan finished her own, checking the sub-channel identification code on record for Babylon Four with the one that seemed to be coming in with the distress call. Somehow, she wasn't surprised to find that they were a perfect match.

"Sub-channel ID code confirmed," she reported. "As impossible as it seams the distress signal is coming from Babylon Four."

"Understood," Sinclair, replied somehow not surprised by the answer. After all one of the first things you learned when you lived and worked here on Babylon Five was to expect the unexpected and deal with whatever curveballs the universe threw at you. "Put the call through."

Ivanova nodded and pressed a control, immediately the stellar comm. logo appeared on her consoles centre screen before being replaced by a middle-aged male in the brown officer's uniform of an Earth Force Marine or GROPO.

"To any ship within grid Epsilon," the man said in a stressed, urgent voice. "This is the Earth Alliance station Babylon Four, Major Lewis Krantz commanding, declaring an emergency. We've been enveloped by somekind of tachyon distortion field and our reactor systems have been compromised, we request immediate assistance. Repeating to any…"

"Open a channel to them," Sinclair ordered already mentally going through how many shuttles they would need to take to get everyone off Babylon Four before its reactors detonated – if they were going to detonate as compromised could simply mean there was a radiation leak. Either way combined with the space-time distortions that such a large tachyon field would be generating the leak insured that Babylon Four would need to be abandoned.

"Opening channel," Ivanova replied a second before another transmission burst across the stellar comm. system, this time showing the face and upper torso of one Captain John Sheridan.

"Babylon Four this is Captain John Sheridan of the Earth Alliance destroyer _Agamemnon_," Sheridan said. "We've received your distress signal and are moving to assist you. Major Krantz can you tell me exactly what the situation is onboard?"

Krantz looked relieved for a moment that help was indeed coming for his beleaguered space station then answered. "Captain Sheridan I'm afraid I can't," he replied. "Everything is so confused over here; we believe we might have hostiles onboard the station however our fusion reactor core is giving off worrying readings. It appears to be slowly building to an overload – we're unable to shut it down. Then there," Krantz went quiet and his face went white, "oh god it's happening again."

Static washed across the screen as Krantz spoke then the image broke up completely as the transmission from Babylon Four cut off. Almost simultaneously several consoles around C&C bleeped warnings.

"Another tachyon burst," Ivanova, said reading the data feed on her console. "Whatever is going on out there it's getting worse."

"It's a subspace time distortion field Lieutenant Commander Ivanova," the voice of Captain Aaron McKenzie abruptly said, making both Sinclair and Ivanova jump and spin around…

To find themselves face to face with a life size image of the _Jutland's_ master. From the way he was floating, feet only inches over the heads of the console pit crew, both guessed that they were looking at some kind of holographic projection. Both noticed that the Tau'ri officer wasn't wearing the dress uniform he'd worn earlier, instead he was wearing a brown and off-white almost cream coloured two-piece uniform that they guessed was the Tau'ri's equivalent of their blue day-to-day uniforms.

"I'm sorry for startling you but I believed it was important that you know what's going on out there," Aaron McKenzie continued. "I'm sending this transmission to the _Agamemnon_ as well."

"What is happening out there, captain," Sinclair asked. "You said that the tachyon distortion is a subspace time distortion field whatever that is."

"That is correct, there isn't really time for me to explain the intricacies of advanced subspace physics, commander," Aaron answered. "Suffice to say the tachyon field your sensors have picked up around Babylon Four has destabilised the very fabric of space-time itself at a level the your science hasn't even begun to explore let alone understand yet. The field is extremely unstable and crossing it to board and rescue the personnel on board Babylon Four will be very dangerous."

"We have to try though we cannot ignore a distress call," Sheridan said as his face appeared on various screens around C&C as he joined the discussion.

"I am not suggesting that you do, captain," Aaron replied soothingly. "I'm just telling you that the subspace distortion field is extremely dangerous, especially to vessels as fragile as yours, no offence intended. If you try to cross the boundary of the distortion field then it is very possible that your ships would sustain heavy damage or be destroyed outright by the forces involved."

"I assume you have a solution," Sheridan said after a moment a faint scowl on his face at having his ship – a powerful Omega-class starship and one of the most respected in the entire Earth Force armada – being described as fragile. _Thank goodness, that asshole Ellis Pierce isn't here this time,_ Sinclair thought knowing that the arrogant African American commander of the EAS _Hyperion_ would not have responded well to such a statement from the Tau'ri – even though it was probably true compared to the far more advanced and powerful Tau'ri vessels. Vessels that if they were anything like the probe they'd briefly had onboard were constructed of unknown alloys that were far stronger than anything they themselves knew how to make.

"I do," Aaron, answered. "My superiors won't particularly like it but they'll agree with me that there is not really much choice. Not if you want to save your people."

"What is your plan then," Sinclair asked.

"Its really quite simple commander, we give you a lift," Aaron replied with a faint grin. "What I'm suggesting is you launch your shuttle craft, as many as you believe you will need. If they come within a hundred metres of my ship, we will be able to extend both our shields and our drive field around them. Both will protect the shuttles and anyone within them from both inertial forces and the effects of the time-space distortion field."

"Shields," Sheridan questioned, "your ships have energy shielding?"

"Of course," Aaron answered. "We've used force shield technology for along time, Captain Sheridan. Like artificial gravity, we've never been without a form of force shield technology for defensive purposes. But now is not a time for a technological discussion."

"No its not," Sinclair agreed. "Now we need to sort out a rescue mission for Babylon Four."

"It has to be done quite quickly commander," Aaron replied. "My ships have detected that the subspace time distortion field around Babylon Four is unstable. It could begin cascading at any time."

"What exactly does that mean," Sheridan asked.

"It means captain that Babylon Four would once again be folded deep into the quantum strata of subspace and it may never emerge again," Aaron explained. "Even with our knowledge of subspace and the technology we have to manipulate it, it would be impossible to find it, let alone access it."

"You're saying it would be like looking for the proverbial needle in the equally proverbial haystack," Sinclair asked.

"A proverbial haystack of infinite size," Aaron told him. "If the people on Babylon Four are to be saved then we have to do it now or not at all. And there is another matter to consider."

"And that is," Sheridan asked.

"A diplomatic transport ship the _Crystal Star_ carrying our ambassador to Babylon Five was disabled by the appearance of the distortion field along with a patrolling fighter."

"Alpha Seven is he alive," Ivanova asked.

"I believe so, lieutenant commander," Aaron answered truthfully. "I know he was transported aboard the _Crystal Star_ from the disabled fighter but I do not know his condition beyond that I am afraid." For a moment, the holographic image flickered, washing with whitish light before stabilising.

"We don't have much time," Aaron informed them a grim look on his holographic face. "Our sensors have detected increasing instabilities in the distortion field; if the instabilities continue to build at this rate then the station could soon start folding back into subspace."

"Any idea how long we have," Sheridan asked.

"It's hard to say especially with a time-space distortion field as unstable as the one surrounding Babylon Four," Aaron answered truthfully. "However at the most we probably only have about two or three hours no more."

"That's not a lot of time," Sinclair commented knowing they would be really pushing it to get everyone off Babylon Four in such a narrow period. Granted Babylon Four had been operating on a skeleton crew at the time of its disappearance, having only just been brought online, but that was still a few hundred to a thousand people. Ensuring that they all got off before the station vanished again – possibly for good this time – would not be easy.

"No it isn't," Sheridan agreed. "And sitting or standing here talking about it is not getting anything done."

"Point we need to move if we are going to get this done in time," Sinclair agreed. "Captain McKenzie how many shuttles could you carry through the distortion field?"

"Without adversely affecting our speed or shield strength at the most eight," Aaron answered.

"That's not going to be enough," Sheridan commented. "Though if we jump out to Sector Fourteen then we can always rotate shuttles in and out of my ships hanger bay."

"Sounds like a plan then," Sinclair said decisively.

"Indeed how long will it take you to ready your shuttles and pilots, commander?" Aaron asked.

"Ten minutes," Sinclair answered "fifteen at the most."

Aaron nodded. "We'll be waiting for them," he said before his hologram shimmered once again with whitish light before vanishing as if it had never been present at all.

"That was creepy," Ivanova commented. "Having him just standing there like that, I had no idea the Tau'ri could project holographic transmissions like that and with such high resolution."

"None of us did, lieutenant commander," Sheridan answered from the bridge of the _Agamemnon_. "And I agree it was creepy that they can do that. But if there is one thing we should have all learned about the Tau'ri by now it's expect the unexpected."

"Standard rule of thumb when you live and work here," Sinclair replied with a faint hint of wry humour. "But we don't really have time now to talk about the latest facet of Tau'ri technological abilities that has been revealed to us."

"True," Sheridan agreed. "I'll begin heading out to Sector Fourteen."

"See you out there, captain," Sinclair replied. "Good luck."

"To all of us," Sheridan answered before breaking the communications link with the _Agamemnon_ making the stellar comm. insignia once again appear on a multitude of screens around command and control before the normal data feeds returned.

"Have eight personnel shuttles be prepared for immediate launch," Sinclair instructed looking over at Susan. "Have Garibaldi meet me at the docking bay."

"You intend to lead the rescue mission yourself," Ivanova asked knowingly. In the few months she'd been on Babylon Five she'd noticed her commanding officer had the sometimes downright reckless habit of leading from the front at all times, even if it meant doing things that were borderline suicidal.

"Correct," Sinclair answered.

Ivanova sighed. "I don't suppose I could convince you otherwise," she asked knowing it was pointless but that Earth Force regulations demanded that she try to dissuade her commanding officer from embarking on actions that could get him killed or seriously injured.

"No you can't," Sinclair replied before walking around the perimeter of C&C and leaving the room.

Ivanova watched him leave and inwardly sighed. _Why do I try,_ she wondered, _he's going to be the death or me and the doom of all of us one of these days. Eventually this place is certain to go boom and knowing the commander he'll be right in the middle of it._

Pushing aside her thoughts, she focused on the task at hand, getting the shuttles and pilots ready for the rescue mission to Babylon 4. Privately she suspected that the mission to rescue the temporally displaced stations was doomed to failure, especially if the distortion field around Babylon Four was as dangerous as Captain McKenzie indicated it to be. However they had to try rescuing there fellow Earth Force officers and the civilian contractors that had been living and working on board Babylon Four as they brought the station online. To leave them there to die alone or to be lost forever was unacceptable.

Completely and totally unacceptable.


End file.
